Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PNL?
I think it's a great idea! There are so many great resources out there for educators to share with each other, but are typically limited to only sharing them with those close to them physically. This would allow educators to have more options when it comes to preparing for the classroom.
I also liked how the PNL video talked about teaching students how to use a PNL not only for school, but in regards to interactions with strangers online. Students are using online sites, but are not being taught what information is safe to give out or in what format it is okay to talk to someone they do not know outside of the online world. We teach students about fire safety and strangers on the street. In this day and age I think we also need to teach them about strangers online.

2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?
There were two points that stood out to me. The first being to comment meaningfully. I think back to what people right on facebook "cool" "yeah" "agreed". If these friends
added more depth to the comments I could understand why they like something I have posted or what specifically they agree with me about on a comment.
The second thing that stood out to me what teaching the students how to responded in a meaningful way that not only led insight into their mind, but generated a conversation online. I would like to use bloggs in my classroom to have the students write about the book they are currently reading. If a student just responded to another student with "I like that book to." I would have no idea why the second student liked to the book. However, if that second student responded with "I enjoyed the character of ...", then there could be an online discussion about the different characters and their traits. A conversation would be much more enjoyable and meaningful than a comment.

3. What five blogs did you select for your comments?
I have chosen to respond to bloggs from Sherwood. I have chosen Kindertracs, Thinking thoughts, The Tech-Teacher Experiment, Savcic's Savants, and Fatigued Teacher.