This I’ve got to Share
My, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun. I see my last blog entry was way back in early February, and now it’s nearly the end of March. I have so many things to write about from the intervening times, and of course blogs are usually sequential. Well, those of you who know me well will know that the only rule is that there are no rules, so instead of worrying about catching up with yesterday, I’m leaping in to today and maybe yesterday will be tomorrow. 
Today I went and lunched with one of my facilitators who lives not far from here, as I am not making an official visit to the cluster this term. There were a few things she wanted to discuss, so lunch seemed a good way to go. Two hours later after another round of coffee, we thought we might need to pay rent to the restaurant, so adjourned to her office to continue the discussion. In the interim we had planned out the scope of home group, regional and national meetings for term 2 – I work so much better when there is someone to bounce ideas off. Sometimes I do that online, but you still can’t beat a bit of face to face and over food and drink.
Going back to her office was a great idea though, as she was keen to show me what she had been doing during the term – of course I didn’t have my camera with me, so can’t share all of that with you just now. However, Donna also took me in to her cluster wikispaces to see the developments since I lasted visited there. It reinforced for me that I’ve just got to share this space with as many people as I can, because here is a cluster that is beginning to use these tools well for their communication and sharing of ideas.
Donna has three wikispaces she uses for different facets of her cluster business. The Rosetown space http://rosetown.wikispaces.com/ is used for professional readings and stimulus of ideas. If you’re checking in here, see how a few good YouTube videos (Future Stuff) have been used to focus teachers on how new developments in technology are changing the way that we will be working tomorrow – a “DON’T” message for teachers who want to teach kids how to use technologies and even hold them back until they have learnt first. There isn’t time and there isn’t any good reason to do so. Our students need to learn how to work out technology use – teachers need to focus on learning and their role in that.
The RATS space (Really Awesome Teachers Stories) http://rats.wikispaces.com/ is gradually taking off as teachers realise that they are doing some great stuff and gain the confidence to share. As they get confidence in here, it is also to be hoped that they take up the contribution opportunities in the other spaces. A wikispace is intended to be a collaborative development and its tools make reader contribution a very simple process.
What is really great is that Donna is also encouraging teachers to share their resources and ideas in the EdResources space. http://edresources.wikispaces.com/ If you visit this space today you need to check back here in the future as Donna has plans to share her workshop presentations – she is a shining example of how when we share our resources and strengths, we build community – and COMMUNITY is what Web 2.0 has to offer – interaction and sharing with others of common interest and activity. Let’s not have competition to the forefront in our teaching practice – let’s share – and know that in that way, we get to enrich what kids are experiencing in their classrooms around the world. Let us also be aware of plagiarism rules and give credit to the source when we utilise the resources found on the web.
Well done Donna. Looking forward to the next lunch date.
