Week 2: Curation Content & Paper.li

The tools I have previous experience with were Pinterest, Feedly and Flipboard.  When Pinterest first came out and was really popular, I created an account to see what the buzz was about.  I know a lot of my friends use Pinterest for crafty ideas but that does not interest me.  I think I created two boards, “Yum – Food!” and “Cool Stuff.”  As you can see, I did not stay interested in Pinterest for too long.  I have experience with Feedly from a previous class and this one, so I knew I wanted to pick something different.  Last but not least, I had played around with Flipboard in the past but did not ever really understand why people liked it so much.  I suppose that is what is great about tools like these; they appeal more to some people and not as much to others. 

One thing that influenced my decision was that I was adamant I wanted to try something new.  Although it would be easy to choose one of the aforementioned tools because I am familiar with them, I decided I wanted to try something new.  I love exploring new tools and applications, so if there was something out there that I would find beneficial, I was determined to do so.  Another factor that influenced my decision was that I wanted something easy to use.  Reading through some of the descriptions on the website provided, a few of the tools sounded a bit more difficult than others. 

When listening to the Update #1 video for this week, I heard Dean mention Paper.li so that was one I was automatically willing to explore as a potential tool.  Since I didn’t know much about any of the other tools listed, Paper.li was at the top of my list.  After reading the description about how it uses Twitter, I was more intrigued than ever.  I signed in using my Twitter account (awesome!) and I was directed to start adding content to my paper.  When it prompted me for keywords to search to find content, the first thing that came to mind was ‘education’ and I’m glad it did because a few resources that popped up were ones I was familiar with like Edutopia.  I then added a few ‘digital literacy’ resources and then created my paper. IT IS SO COOL! I recommend using Paper.li to anyone who might not have picked a tool yet because it really is easy to use and attractive; I love it!

I think I have a good balance of sources.  Like I mentioned before, Edutopia is a main contributor of the content on my paper.  I have other sources like Discovery Education, Education Week and the New York Times.  However, I do have sources from teachers who have written articles or shared links, videos or pictures on the topics I chose.   For example, Amy Stella shared a wonderful poster about Digital Literacy with quotes, topics and resources.  In turn, I shared it on Twitter. It can viewed here (the link is: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1C_7FECIAA66Sb.png; just in case the picture is hard to see):

When perusing through my classmates’ posts, I found that Chris Lopez was also thinking about using Paper.li!  The example she posted of Paper.li is very similar to me.  However, my content is very generic. Since I am so new to it, I have only added content relevant to education and technology. Chris had posts from edX, which is an online course site (I had to look it up).  I thought that was really neat so I will have to continue to add more topics that I’m interested in.  There are so many different topics that I teach in Computer, I am sure I could find a ton of resources that promote those topics.  

When adding resources, I think it is important to choose topics that are relevant to you.  Thankfully, when I was initially adding resources, I haven’t come across any that I have felt like are irrelevant.  As I continue to add resources to Paper.li, I will make sure to keep an eye out for anything that doesn’t relate to me.  I think a site like this could be so beneficial but it has to be pulling resources that interest the user.  If not, there really is no point to the entire tool.  So far, I am most excited about the addition of Edutopia.  I have already found so many great articles, photos and videos that I know I will be able to utilize in some way; whether it is for this class or just to share with colleagues.  In my opinion, the ability to share and collaborate with others is one of the best things about education. 

You can find the link to my Paper.li here: http://paper.li/AlyssaCarricato/1414586563

Week 1: Hello From the Sweetest Place on Earth!

Hi everyone! My name is Alyssa Carricato and I am a teacher in Derry Township School District in Hershey, PA.  Currently, I teach computer at our middle school to students in sixth and eighth grades.

I am originally from this area, Middletown, PA (Three Mile Island is our claim to fame).  I completed my undergrad at Bloomsburg University (May 2010) and started working here at Derry Township. I completed my first Master’s through Wilkes in Instructional Media in December 2012.  In addition, I am currently pursuing my second Master’s in Online Teaching and am two weeks away from being completely finished! Right now, I am taking three graduate courses at once (two online and one face to face through Penn State) so forgive me if I seem out of sorts in the beginning!

This is my twentieth online class through Wilkes and my first using this new and updated LIVE.

In addition to my job teaching, I like to be involved as possible within the school.  I am one of the coaches of the basketball team here at the middle school and co-advisor of Future Business Leaders of America club (FBLA).  In addition to all that, I’m an officer on our union’s executive board and oversee our competitors at the PA Computer Fair.  My school life is pretty busy so when I have “free” time, I like to go to the gym to work off all my stress and watch TV!

If you want to know a bit more about me, this is a link to a project I do with  my eighth graders utilizing GlogsterEDU that is "All About Me!" Click here to view my project.

Enough about me, let’s get down to the real questions! I find a majority of my teaching resources online.  Our Computer curriculum uses a website called CommonSenseMedia.org so we get most of our resources, handouts and videos from there.  It is the perfect place to find a lot of really great stuff.  When I need something extra, I usually just scour the Internet to find what I am looking for.  Other than CSM, I don’t use any specific website.

Thankfully, our school district gives us a lot of professional development opportunities to research new ideas.  Here at HMS, we also have Professional Learning Communities (PLC).  That is time in which we can confer with colleagues and come up with new ideas to implement into the classroom.  The other Computer teacher and I split the entire sixth grade class so it is nice to have someone to run ideas by and come up with new ones.  In addition, we have Computer Articulation meetings twice a year in which the entire department can come together and talk about our curriculum; what is going well and what needs to be changed for the future.  I have so many different people to lean on for support and new ideas and that is something I love about my job!

I would have to say that challenges I face as I incorporate new ideas and research with my students is the fear of failure or uncertainty about how to present the material.  At this point in my career, usually I am not afraid to try anything once.  I figure, if it goes great, that is awesome and I will be able to do it again.  If it goes terrible, oh well, at least I know I tried and probably won't do it again.  Certain parameters also limit my willingness to try new ideas as the schedule is quite constrained.  I have my sixth grade students all year long (two days out of a six day cycle) but I only have my eighth graders for one marking period (four days out of the six day cycle).  I find it difficult to try as many new things with my eighth graders as I want to simply due to what little time I have with them.  I feel like I have so much to teach but so little time to do so!

Overall, I think anything that I learn that I can incorporate into the classroom is beneficial; that’s why I love teaching.  There are always new ways of doing things and new things to try.  I’m looking forward to working with, and learning from, all of you over the next few months!