Social and Professional Networks

My participation in a social/professional network – Pinterest!

I began using Pinterest as a personal network and then saw a huge potential for it as a professional network.  I now have two accounts, one for personal use and one for professional use. 

In the past, I was always bookmarking technology sites in the traditional way – searching the Internet, then adding the site to either my bookmarks bar or to a folder in my bookmarks menu.  Like the saying goes, though, out of sight, out of mind.  I would forget what I had bookmarked and would have to make a concerted effort to look through all my bookmarks every month or so.  I am a highly visual learner, so when I found out about Pinterest and started to use it, I was hooked!

Pinterest allows me to create boards (think visual bulletin boards) where I can pin images with links to websites and add comments or notes for myself. I began by creating different subject boards – math, social studies, technology, literature, science, tech tools, etc.  I added the “Pin It” button to my bookmarks bar, went through my old bookmarks and added them visually to Pinterest. What a difference when I could view them as images!

Even better, I learned that I can follow others in the teaching profession and repin what they’ve already found.  What a timesaver!  I am able to read others’ comments (e.g. how they manage their classroom, how they conduct science experiments, etc.).  I can connect to their blogs and websites, too.

I highly recommend Pinterest for professional networking.  I can also see it’s applications for my students to use – website resources, homework help, etc.  Right now, Pinterest is set up for individual use.  I hope they provide an educational component soon where teachers can set up classroom accounts.

How the Internet helps me learn and how it can distract me

I think back on my elementary, high school, and college days and what a chore it was to research a topic.  I would go to the library, search through the card catalog, write down the dewey decimal number and walk up and down the library aisles in search of a book I could use.  More often than not, I would not find the exact book I wanted; the books I did find would be horribly outdated.  If I was lucky I would find two or three books I could glean some information from, so I would lug them to the library table, take out my index cards, and jot down some facts.  If I was even luckier, I might find a newspaper article I could read on the microfiche, which meant checking out the film and sitting there at that huge machine, fast forwarding until I came to the article I needed.  I could usually print the page I needed from there, if I had remembered to bring some change with me.

Now, with the Internet, I can search from home and find up-to-date information in a flash.  And the information isn’t limited to print media. There’s videos, animations, simulations, and audio.  I can play games and attend webinars to learn concepts, too! I can read blogs and get on Facebook and check to see what’s happening with friends and family.  I can access any of my own files from anywhere with iCloud and Google Drive.  It’s all at my fingertips, 24/7.

That’s part of the problem, though. It’s all there – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  24/7.  So, that means it takes awhile to sift through the bad and the ugly to find the good.  And there’s so many layers once I’ve found the good, sometimes I get sidetracked by links and videos that may not have to do with what I’m trying to learn about.  Since I can access the Internet 24/7, I no longer have to leave at 5 p.m. when the library closes, or wait till it opens at 9 a.m.  Time often comes to a standstill, it seems, while I’m on the Internet, and what seems like mere seconds is really hours and hours.  I am no longer hunched over a library table, but I am still hunched over the keyboard, squinting to read, view, or listen to what’s on the screen.

The same or different experience for my students?

I don’t think my students even know what a card catalog is or what a microfiche machine looks like.  I’m not even sure how many of my students regularly visit a public library.  They don’t really need to anymore. The Internet is their library and their connection to their friends.  They assume they will be connected wherever they go – at school, at home, in restaurants, in theatres, while walking around campus.  And usually they’re right. 

I often hear that using computers and devices is second nature to the younger generation.  However, what I see daily is that my students have a difficult time discerning what is reliable, credible information.  If it’s on the Internet, it must be true; if the website looks official, then the information must be accurate.  Students still need to learn how to sift through all the information to find the good.  From what I see, they tend to click on the first link or two that comes up when they search, and are satisfied with the information those links provide.  They don’t want to research any deeper.

Also, being connected 24/7 can be detrimental to learning necessary social skills.  I’m sure that is contrary to what my students believe, though.  If you ask most teenagers if they think it’s odd that their friends text or play games on their devices in a restaurant, or while they’re sitting on the beach right next to them, they would say no, it’s normal.  Most adults my age, however, would say it’s rude.  And I believe being connected to a mobile device, with no boundaries, allows teens and children to hide behind the devices.  They miss out on what’s physically going on around them.  They do not participate fully in one-to-one interactions in the real world.  But, most of my students would say they are interacting, just in a different way.

As for being hunched over a computer or another device, it’s probably much the same for me as for my students.  It may be that they’re using the device in a different way, though.  They’re probably gaming much more than I do, learning skills nonetheless.  They’re probably using the Internet more actively, to create rather than to passively read or watch videos.  They create their own videos, music, and blogs and are not shy about wanting to share it with the world.

Supporting my students’ use of the Internet as their personal learning space

My role as a teacher is to help my students learn how to discern what is reliable, credible, and accurate information on the Internet and teach them the skills to best find that information.  It is my role to show them a variety of tools available to them on the Internet, tools they can use to effectively create, communicate, and share with others, and to teach them to choose the most appropriate tool depending on the outcome they hope to achieve.  It is my role to help them set boundaries, to realize when they need to disconnect and interact in the physical world. And one of my most important roles is to teach them how to be safe on the Internet and how to be good digital citizens.  Not a small task, all that.

Using Web 2.0 Tools - Family Heritage Project

I am planning on using Google Earth, Google Presentation or Prezi, Voice Thread, Google Spreadsheet, and Google Calendar with my 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders for a family heritage project in Social Studies.

The project would start with students watching a video about immigrants coming to Ellis Island and to Angel Island.  They would then be introduced to the Google Earth tutorials on how to navigate the Earth.  They would find their house and then use the timeline to view changes to their house and surroundings over the years. 

Part of the family heritage project would be to see how far their ancestors had to travel for students to land at their current home.  They would need to practice how to add placemarks and measure distances between locations in Google Earth.

Once they’ve learned how to use Google Earth for the project, students would then conduct interviews with a family member or members using Voice Thread.  First, they would practice with each other.  They could describe what country their family came from and tell their classmates a little about the culture, food, etc. from that country.  The goal would be for them to be able to interview a relative using Voice Thread and ask them questions about their heritage. I would provide a list of questions that they could add to if they wanted.

After the interview, they would explore Google Earth and the region/country they originated from.  They would use placemarks to plot how their family came to live in El Dorado County (ex. start in Locri, Italy, then to Ellis Island, then to Pennsylvania, then to Los Angeles, then to Bay Area, then to Shingle Springs).  They would measure the distance traveled.  We could also plot a more simplified version in the classroom on the world map and see what family travelled the greatest distance.  This could tie in with some math lessons on average, longest, shortest distance. Students would then graph it on a Google Spreadsheet.

The final product would be either a Prezi or Google Presentation on their family heritage.  I would provide them with a checklist of what they needed to have in their presentation (e.g. family tree, facts about their family, artifacts, facts about the country/region from which they originated, etc.).

At the end of the project, we would hold a festival where students would present their projects and bring in artifacts and food to share.

This main curriculum objective in this family heritage project would be to learn about different countries, cultures, and geography.  Other curriculum objectives include learning math concepts like average and how to create and read graphs.

A further objective would be to create an environment where students learn to be tolerant and proud of their diversity.

Because this would be an extended project, I would provide students with a calendar and deadlines for each activity (Google Calendar) and checklists and rubrics for each activity along the way.

The family heritage project promotes all the levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.  Examples include:

• remembering how to use placemarks and measure distances (Google Earth), how to find the average, etc.
• understanding how to use the measurements to create a graph and find the average, longest, shortest distance travelled (Google Spreadsheet)
• applying what they learn in their interviews and research to help them create their final product (Prezi or Google Presentation)
• analyzing the information from their interview, from their research and from their measurements
• evaluating what information is credible in their research and what would be best to include in their final product
• creating a presentation that effectively brings together all the information they’ve gathered about their family   

Online or Blended Teaching Methodologies and Strategies

As the computer teacher for Latrobe School District, I was able to use a blended teaching method in the computer lab over the last 7 years. Each student had their own computer station from which they could access my Computer Class webpage and project pages with worksheets, links, rubrics, web 2.0 tools, and interactive activities.  I provided a variety of learning materials to allow for student choice.  Most of the time, they were able to choose the format or tool they would use to complete the project (e.g. Powerpoint, Prezi, Storybird, Animoto, GoAnimate, etc.).  I also began using Edmodo with my 6th through 8th graders as a type of LMS and as a safe way for them to learn about social networking.  I learned the hard way that I needed to set expectations about when grades would be posted and how fast they could expect me to respond to their posts or emails.  A few students (and parents) expected their grades and their questions to be answered instantaneously.


Things will be different next year as I will be teaching Social Studies most days in a traditional classroom with only 2 computers for the entire class.  The plan is to have iPads for each of the 6th graders, but this will not be happening until November.  I will still be taking my class to the computer lab, but I won't have the flexibility of being in the lab every single day and students will not have full access to the computers.


To improve my blended teaching skills, I would like to learn how to use a more comprehensive LMS which would allow my students to have more individualized instruction and access 24/7.  In my computer class, students had to look on my webpage and also look on the Edmodo site for assignments and to post discussions.  It would be great to have the entire curriculum and assessments on one site. VoiceThread would be nice to learn, too.


I would also like to learn more about flipping the classroom and using screencast software like Jing and Camtasia.   This would give students the ability to watch videos at home and come to school prepared to work on projects.  It would also be a great re-learning tool for them to have access to.  It would help to turn my traditional classroom into a more student-centered classroom as I would not have to give direct instruction as much and could be more of a coach.

Personal Learning Goals

No surprises from the online learning self-assessment. I scored a 95% and am ready to continue my online journey – this time as a teacher, not a student. As the K-8 computer teacher at Latrobe for the past 7 years, I’ve been using Dreamweaver to update my classroom webpage and post project assignments. I’ve learned to embed videos, links, and pdf’s, but I haven’t incorporated a blog yet. In my search for a more interactive tool for my students, I began using EdModo to post questions, polls, assignments, and grades while teaching social networking skills. My students seemed to be more excited about using EdModo rather then going to my static webpage. I found some things lacking, though, and am in search of a more comprehensive, user-friendly, and age-appropriate LMS for my middle-schoolers.


This Fall, my 6th grade class will be outfitted with iPads. Students will be able to use them in class and at home. With this 24:7 access, I am interested in creating some flipped video lessons. I would like to learn how to use Jing (or another screencasting program) to create short videos for my students to view in class or at home. This will be a great way to differentiate instruction and allow students to keep up with their assignments if they’re on vacation or out sick. Of course, I will need a LMS to organize the videos, modules, and assessments in an interesting way.