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Connie Weber
Ann Arbor
United States - Share
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- Hometown:
- Ann Arbor, MI
- School / Work Affiliation
- Emerson School
- About Me:
- Long time fan of Steve Hargadon, very grateful for his visionary impact on education. Participant in CR2.0 since it was about 200 members. In December, 2007, I created Fireside Learning, a spinoff international network for educational and pedagogical discussions, including administrators, teachers, professors, parents, business-people, and college students.
I'm earning more than ever in my life, on an extreme learning binge, thanks to having networks of deep-thinking colleagues.
Teacher-leader, professional development leader, eager to participate at the upcoming Harvard Summer Institute "Future of Learning" as well as Project Zero. Originator of "Fireside Chats," a F2F model for local PD groups. Evaluator for the American Teacher Awards for more than a decade; featured in Creativity in the Classroom series.
Interested in teaching kids about nature, evolution, ecology: immigration in American culture; creativity in teaching/learning, reflective learning; student motivation through empowerment and ownership of learning.
Personal: certified dog tracker, soccer coach and player, gardener
Personal heroes: E.O. Wilson, John Dewey, Jane Goodall
Favorite cartoons: Far Side, Citizen Dog, Mutts, Get Fuzzy
- Website:
- http://firesidelearning.ning.com
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evolution of a homeroom class, ongoing. March 26, 2008
It's been a few months since my last entry; the entries used to be weekly, as I adjusted to a new kind of teaching. Now, here I am just a bit later and completely on the "other side."
There's no going back.
This year my students and I have experienced a fundamental “shift” in education. We are not only a strong classroom community (in real time, face to face, here and now), we are also a strong networked community online.
Our network is private. It's a ning network like Fireside and Classroom… Continue
Posted on March 29, 2008 at 12:39pm — 1 Comment
evolution of a homeroom class: Settled. Purposeful. Humming. 1/11/08
(This is an ongoing blog about my "switchover" as an elementary homeroom teacher to networked learning and rather intense involvement in Web 2.0 activities. We have a class ning, for one thing, and that ning provides a center for much of what we do.)
This week was the stuff of dreams. If I had sat back from afar and tried to envision education going a certain way, this would be it. We are there, right now. Of course, I don’t mean that more things and yet better things shouldn’t be in th… Continue
This week was the stuff of dreams. If I had sat back from afar and tried to envision education going a certain way, this would be it. We are there, right now. Of course, I don’t mean that more things and yet better things shouldn’t be in th… Continue
Posted on January 19, 2008 at 4:13pm —
evolution of a homeroom class: encounter with a bat, and visiting nings
From last week, this event makes me laugh: the kids found a bat in the school hallway (an unprecedented and thrilling occurrence) that swooped into the science room, where they were headed. They had to move from the science room to homeroom so the bat could be caught. Well, the students RAN back down the hallway and upon arrival in our classroom, four or five of them instantly (I mean INSTANTLY) got up bat references on their computers. What made me laugh was that when the guy who caug… Continue
Posted on December 15, 2007 at 2:36pm —
evolution of a homeroom class: a multi-piloted helicopter
When Friday evening comes, I find myself looking at the clock and wondering how I can make it to a "respectable" going-to-bed time. How can I stay up as late as, say, 7:30? Can't wait to kick back and stop thinking.
During the week there's so much thinking, so much activity going on all the time. This new education is highly-individualized, very demanding in real-time advice, counsel, direction-giving, reflection. I haven’t yet found it easier than the “old teaching;” it seems to requir… Continue
During the week there's so much thinking, so much activity going on all the time. This new education is highly-individualized, very demanding in real-time advice, counsel, direction-giving, reflection. I haven’t yet found it easier than the “old teaching;” it seems to requir… Continue
Posted on December 9, 2007 at 11:24am — 1 Comment
evolution of a homeroom class--what a ride!
Moving on with the experiment of Shift, of using a qualitatively new design for learning in the classroom, I've seen big changes.
The biggest change might be in student initiative: kids are carving their own paths to a much greater degree, carrying their studies outwards on high-quality learning paths, seeking out information constantly, and sharing what they learn with classmates.
The biggest change might be in student initiative: kids are carving their own paths to a much greater degree, carrying their studies outwards on high-quality learning paths, seeking out information constantly, and sharing what they learn with classmates.
Posted on December 1, 2007 at 7:10am —
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Hi, this is Kevin. Hope your summer is going well and you had some time to relax.
I've started a new Ning network for Middle School Science Teachers and I thought you might like to join as you are (may be) also a m.s. science teacher. I thought it would be really good to have just middle school science teachers share some of their labs, demos, concerns, what works and what doesn't about teaching this level. Hope to see you there.
Thanks, Kevin
Kevin
The expression of those ideas has been refined a great deal in the past year thanks mainly to this community, the folk at the Fordham Institute, and Rick Hess & staff at AEI. And while those two groups are excellent at holding to principles, remembering the worst of our schools always, and pinging for good research, its been this group that has really filled in the gap between my own personal experiences and the great wide task that is building an economically sensible education system that respects the civic culture that got us all this far.
I know you work amazingly hard at school, in the field, online, and at home, and just wanted to thank at least you for the work here & at fireside. I have a much greater level of hope today than I did a year ago, primarily due to the collaboration you all are enabling.
If you want to give me a brief "ping" an hour or so ahead of time, we can easily adjust what we're doing. The kids are getting very used to visitors coming in person and via Skype.
Thanks for sharing the Scientific American article. I've just posted the link in my blog, thanking you:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2007/12/01/article-on-the-role-of-effort-in-learning/
This is prob not related to your Creature Project so much, but we do a Monster Exchange earlier in the year to accent descriptive writing. The kids create monsters, write up a descriptive narrative story, and then swap writing. All of the monster drawings are on the wall, and they have to match the art with the writing.
Next year, I would love to do this with another class.
Anyway, we made this movie:
Kevin
It does sound like you're presiding over the evolution of a new kind of homeroom class. Even the mayhem stage sounds exciting, though it probably would come across on a webcam as just chaos. However, when things calm down a bit I'd like to discuss with you how we can share what you're learning with students and teachers everywhere through the World Mind Network. I think your kids could end up being the most famous 4th and 5th graders in the world.
Bob
Sorry to take so long to answer your question!
We at the World Mind Network are really interested in your experience with your new homeroom of 20 4th and 5th graders. Is there any we we can capture part or all of the magic you are exploring with either webcams or video cameras? If so we would be glad to provide them. You can go to worldmindnetwork.net to see some of our webcam feeds.
You may recall that last month I suggested that today's connected kids seem to be creating a new 'species' of humanity, because of their amazing collaborative abilities via MySpace, YouTube, etc. And you had a very insightful comment on my post. It seems that you are facilitating,
or 'midwifing' this change. I would love to share this with the world.
Bob
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