I know I am going to sound like a stick in the mud here, but I do not think that it is a good idea to have the children in my middle school classroom using facebook or twitter. I think it is a great way to stay in touch with other educators inside of the school system, though. You can stay up to date on all the things going on inside of the school, and gain many new opportunities a teacher might miss out on with it, like conferences being held, or learning or team-building exercises that may be taking place on the weekend. I think it is a way to stay in touch with the community as well. Knowing what is going on in your community, can only strengthen your understanding of what students may be going through in their school lives.
Now, as to the children. When I was a child, I got grounded. I got grounded a great deal. Facebook and myspace were off limits at all costs. In fact, myspace was one of the things that would get me into trouble. Do I want to put my children in a compromising position because of my actions? No. Do I override the parents saying they cannot access a social webpage? No. There are too many risks that could hinder the education of my students. I would not take that risk. Instead, I would prefer to sign them onto a blog where I could post all manner of entertaining things having to do with our class sessions, and not be at fault for anything that occurs on a social site like facebook. Also, they would not have an excuse as to why they could not do their work, unlike with facebook where they could say their father or mother would not allow them to access it.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Thing #17
When I first got onto this site, I did not care for it in the slightest. I did not understand it. I say that only to say this. I do understand now. There are so many new emerging parts of technology that I did not understand. But once I actually understood what to do, I loved it! I think it is a great resource for new and emerging technologies used inside of the classrooms, and a great way to find lesson plans and stay up to date on the newest advances in education.
You could create a selection of links for the children to guide them to useful sites for a class project, such as the ones we do in here. You could also have your students create their own set of links and have them explain the importance of them with regards to their learning. You can also create and bookmark a group of images that can be used by the children in your class as a set of review notes for quizzes and tests.
On Rachel Funderburk's site she mentioned Pinterest. I think this is a great option for teachers of any level. This site has so many useful ideas from how to decorate your classroom to how to teach difficult topics and effective classroom management techniques. It is truly a remarkable resource for teachers.
You could create a selection of links for the children to guide them to useful sites for a class project, such as the ones we do in here. You could also have your students create their own set of links and have them explain the importance of them with regards to their learning. You can also create and bookmark a group of images that can be used by the children in your class as a set of review notes for quizzes and tests.
On Rachel Funderburk's site she mentioned Pinterest. I think this is a great option for teachers of any level. This site has so many useful ideas from how to decorate your classroom to how to teach difficult topics and effective classroom management techniques. It is truly a remarkable resource for teachers.
Thing #16
I would like to start this article off with a side point. I have learned a valuable lesson in this exercise. Even if there is a link for it, things are still very difficult to locate on the internet. I felt like I was in a scavenger hunt. Kiko shut down. Others you had to pay to use. Backpack's site has switched to Basecamp. I almost gave up and went back to trusty google, but I convinced myself to try something new. In the end, I really am glad that I did.
Once I found the new site by Backpack called Basecamp, I decided I loved it more than my google calendar. Much more! You can click on certain items and invite others to join that event. It allows you to create an item to accomplish and asks if there is an ending date you would like to set for the completion of that item (great for projects). It has many little gadgets like this, and the ease of use surpasses even google calendars, which is difficult in my opinion. The to do lists...these I found less useful. I am happy with a list to accomplish these things, or using my calendar for them. I do not see the need for a separate tool for it.
I think the calendars have great use inside of the classroom, particularly basecamp. I believe that having all teachers use this would help facilitate faculty schedules and remind teachers of upcoming dates for standards tests and TCAP tests, and parent nights at the school. If used by students, it could be like an nline planner. They could all log on to the teacher's calendar and check due dates and things during the class. I can see many uses for it.
Once I found the new site by Backpack called Basecamp, I decided I loved it more than my google calendar. Much more! You can click on certain items and invite others to join that event. It allows you to create an item to accomplish and asks if there is an ending date you would like to set for the completion of that item (great for projects). It has many little gadgets like this, and the ease of use surpasses even google calendars, which is difficult in my opinion. The to do lists...these I found less useful. I am happy with a list to accomplish these things, or using my calendar for them. I do not see the need for a separate tool for it.
I think the calendars have great use inside of the classroom, particularly basecamp. I believe that having all teachers use this would help facilitate faculty schedules and remind teachers of upcoming dates for standards tests and TCAP tests, and parent nights at the school. If used by students, it could be like an nline planner. They could all log on to the teacher's calendar and check due dates and things during the class. I can see many uses for it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Thing #15
Oh those wacky wikis. I think there are many useful ways to use a wiki, but I do not believe I would use it inside of my classrooms. I do believe it would be a helpful teacher collaboration tool where teachers within a school district can combine their resources and creative activities used within the classroom. I do like the sandbox feature that allows you to edit posts and play around with all of the tools. But I do not believe I would use this tool inside of the classroom with so many other tools at my disposal.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Thing #14
I can not tell you how tired of powerpoints I am after years of using them on every presentation I have had. I just get so tired of creating bullet point after bullet point. I love the flow charts and the venn diagrams offered by gliffy. I think the venn diagrams would be a great way to explain the three kingdoms plantae, animalia, and fungi, without having to do another powerpoint presentation that they may zone out of. The venn diagrams would be a great way to explain the evolution of a particular animal, which would be so fantastic. It actually goes hand in hand with a project I had written on a recent unit plan. I like this idea better than what I previously had down. I will definitely be making use of these kind of tools in my future classroom. This is one of my favorite links so far, since I can use it in my other classes right now!
Thing #13
My name is Amber, and I am a google-aholic. So I almost felt like I was betraying google docs when I tried out zoho.com. I really do like zoho.com though. It is simple and it does not get turned into a document by mistake, which was an issue when I first started using google docs.
https://projects.zoho.com/portal/lawamb12/newlogin.do#dashboard/561755000000014017
I am a huge fan of google docs though, and prefer it to many other forms of communication, particularly among peers. There are slight kinks to work out while using it, but once I get online and start typing with four different people in an online meeting chat section while we plan how to do the assignment on the google doc, it just all makes sense. It is so much easier to meet online and coordinate each others hectic schedules. So overall, while I like zoho, I wouldn't switch from docs for it.
https://projects.zoho.com/portal/lawamb12/newlogin.do#dashboard/561755000000014017
I am a huge fan of google docs though, and prefer it to many other forms of communication, particularly among peers. There are slight kinks to work out while using it, but once I get online and start typing with four different people in an online meeting chat section while we plan how to do the assignment on the google doc, it just all makes sense. It is so much easier to meet online and coordinate each others hectic schedules. So overall, while I like zoho, I wouldn't switch from docs for it.
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