Another website we talked about in class today was Classroom 2.0.
Classroom 2.0 is kind of like an educational Facebook. It is a social networking site for people in the education field.
What I really liked about this website was the Forum. It is kind of like a Q&A section on the website. People can post questions and others can reply with answers. It is interesting to look through, because a lot of people posting are new teachers or soon-to-be new teachers. It is nice that I have that kind of resource. You can ask for lesson plan ideas, or just ask questions or concerns you have about the education field in general. People seem very helpful and nice on the website; they want to answer your questions.
There are also video and photo resources on the blog, as well as live shows and podcasts to listen to about education.
You can ask a "host" or watch a video to learn your way around the website, which I think is really helpful. Overall, this seems like a great website with a lot to offer a new teacher.
Monday, February 28, 2011
EduTecher Reflection
Today in class we learned about a new website called EduTecher.
This website has a lot of great resources for teachers. The first awesome resource I found on here is the website Books Should Be Free. I loved this website immediately. You can download a lot of free audio books on here. There aren't very many new books available, but there are some classic books on here, which is great for teaching. A lot of times English teachers need to teach the more "classic" literature, so this website would be good for students who are better auditory learners. They can listen to the books.
Another resource I found was Breaking News English Lesson. This website is more for ESL/ELL teachers, but I think it could be very useful. It helps ESL students learn English by working with current events and news. That is where I come in - Journalism content! If I had an ESL student in a journalism class: this website would be great! They can use their ESL skills and also be working with news in a journalism setting.
Another resource I liked was Got Brainy. It is used for vocabulary words, but in a fun way. Students or teachers can make or view vocabulary words that are paired with ironic or sarcastic pictures. I think this is perfect way to get students to remember vocabulary words, and it also helps for a student who is a visual learner.
Then I checked out the "teacher tools" on the EduTech website.
One of the websites under the teacher tools category that I loved was 21st Century Literacy. It is a journalism website that you can use to teach your students writing/reading skills using journalistic methods and digital tools. I like that it is used in journalism style, that way I can use it in my classroom.
Another website I liked under the "teacher tools" was 60 Second Recap. This gives you 60 second video recaps of classic literature (and other books as well). The point is to engage the students in wanting to read the books, and to make the information relevant and easy to understand. I can see myself using this website to introduce a new book to the class.
EduTecher has a lot of interesting resources, so you should check it out when you have some time!
This website has a lot of great resources for teachers. The first awesome resource I found on here is the website Books Should Be Free. I loved this website immediately. You can download a lot of free audio books on here. There aren't very many new books available, but there are some classic books on here, which is great for teaching. A lot of times English teachers need to teach the more "classic" literature, so this website would be good for students who are better auditory learners. They can listen to the books.
Another resource I found was Breaking News English Lesson. This website is more for ESL/ELL teachers, but I think it could be very useful. It helps ESL students learn English by working with current events and news. That is where I come in - Journalism content! If I had an ESL student in a journalism class: this website would be great! They can use their ESL skills and also be working with news in a journalism setting.
Another resource I liked was Got Brainy. It is used for vocabulary words, but in a fun way. Students or teachers can make or view vocabulary words that are paired with ironic or sarcastic pictures. I think this is perfect way to get students to remember vocabulary words, and it also helps for a student who is a visual learner.
Then I checked out the "teacher tools" on the EduTech website.
One of the websites under the teacher tools category that I loved was 21st Century Literacy. It is a journalism website that you can use to teach your students writing/reading skills using journalistic methods and digital tools. I like that it is used in journalism style, that way I can use it in my classroom.
Another website I liked under the "teacher tools" was 60 Second Recap. This gives you 60 second video recaps of classic literature (and other books as well). The point is to engage the students in wanting to read the books, and to make the information relevant and easy to understand. I can see myself using this website to introduce a new book to the class.
EduTecher has a lot of interesting resources, so you should check it out when you have some time!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Podcast Reflection #6: TCEA (Tech Chick Tips #81)
This Tech Chicks podcast was about the Texas Computer Educators Conference that these two women attended.
The conference taught them a lot more about Google: Google Art Project, Google OCR, Body Browser, etc. They also learned a lot about mobile learning: iPods and iPod touches.
I think Google is obviously taking over the educational world. I think it is nice that teachers are able to attend conferences like this, so not only computer teachers, but all teachers, can learn about advances in education through technology. I think that as a future teacher, I will enjoy going to conferences like these. You can obviously take advantage of going to them to learn as much as you want.
I like that tech chicks give links to everything they discuss in their podcast. It gives me a visual to work with when they are talking about what the learned.
Overall, I think the tech chicks give interesting and easy to listen to podcasts.
You can listen to their podcasts here.
The conference taught them a lot more about Google: Google Art Project, Google OCR, Body Browser, etc. They also learned a lot about mobile learning: iPods and iPod touches.
I think Google is obviously taking over the educational world. I think it is nice that teachers are able to attend conferences like this, so not only computer teachers, but all teachers, can learn about advances in education through technology. I think that as a future teacher, I will enjoy going to conferences like these. You can obviously take advantage of going to them to learn as much as you want.
I like that tech chicks give links to everything they discuss in their podcast. It gives me a visual to work with when they are talking about what the learned.
Overall, I think the tech chicks give interesting and easy to listen to podcasts.
You can listen to their podcasts here.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Podcast Reflection #5: Teachers Teaching Teachers #232 - Skype in the Classroom with George Mayo and Brianna Reynaud (EdTechTalk)
The podcast I listed to this week was about using Skype in schools and classrooms.
Skype is a very cool program. I use it to talk with my sister and brother-in-law, because they live in Texas. Skype is nice because you get to have face time with someone, and see their surroundings. It is also good because you can chat while you skype, or just make calls to them over your computer. It is free to download and I think it is very useful.
The podcast was interesting, because they talked about students using Skype to work with students in different classrooms or schools. However, some districts would not allow teachers to have Skype on their computers, because they see Skype as a personal tool. I think this is where it could cause some problems. Skype is a very fun, interesting tool to use. I think that it's availability in the classroom would be cool, but only sometimes. Do you really need to connect to different classrooms during class? I could see Skype being more of a distraction in the classroom than helpful.
I think Skype could offer some very good things in the classroom, like being able to have guest speakers or teachers talk from all over the world or just from a different state or district. However, I don't know if I think it should be used on a regular basis.
If you are interested in listening to this podcast, you can listen to it here.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Using Twitter as an Educator
I think Twitter is very useful to an educator. I have a personal Twitter account that I've been using for about a year and a half. Here are some things I do and don't like about Twitter.
Likes:
- As an future teacher, you can really connect with other teachers.
-You can learn about news sites and new information simply by logging on and seeing what people have posted.
- It gives you a great place to ask for advice or responses to your questions as an educator.
Dislikes:
- I do not have unlimited internet access whenever I want it, wherever I want it. This makes it hard to keep up on Twitter.
- I do not always like being constantly connected to the Internet and reading what people are saying on Twitter. I don't like the idea of having to post something regularly just for other people.
- It is not a habit of mine to log into Twitter like I do with Facebook. So I can easily forget about Twitter for days (or even weeks) before remembering to check my Twitter.
Follow me on Twitter.
Likes:
- As an future teacher, you can really connect with other teachers.
-You can learn about news sites and new information simply by logging on and seeing what people have posted.
- It gives you a great place to ask for advice or responses to your questions as an educator.
Dislikes:
- I do not have unlimited internet access whenever I want it, wherever I want it. This makes it hard to keep up on Twitter.
- I do not always like being constantly connected to the Internet and reading what people are saying on Twitter. I don't like the idea of having to post something regularly just for other people.
- It is not a habit of mine to log into Twitter like I do with Facebook. So I can easily forget about Twitter for days (or even weeks) before remembering to check my Twitter.
Follow me on Twitter.
Reflection: Animoto
Animoto is sooo cool! It is very easy to use, and yet it comes off looking very professional. Very little time has to be put into something that ends up looking amazing.
I like that you can use Animoto's music, but I don't know any of the songs on there. However, I wouldn't want to edit my own music for 30 seconds, or risk violating copy-rights, just to use my own.
What I liked best about Animoto was how simple it was. I think anyone could figure it out in a short amount of time. I think if I was a teacher, it would be worth $5.00 to buy their more advanced usage.
If you want to make a short slideshow, you should really try it! It is so simple. Check out the Animoto website!
My Animotos:
I like that you can use Animoto's music, but I don't know any of the songs on there. However, I wouldn't want to edit my own music for 30 seconds, or risk violating copy-rights, just to use my own.
What I liked best about Animoto was how simple it was. I think anyone could figure it out in a short amount of time. I think if I was a teacher, it would be worth $5.00 to buy their more advanced usage.
If you want to make a short slideshow, you should really try it! It is so simple. Check out the Animoto website!
My Animotos:
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Podcast Reflection #4: Ed Tech Talk #148 1:1 iPads with Peter Smith
Peter Smith is the Middle School Head at a school in Savannah, Georgia. He talks about his school using iPads. They moved over to them after using 7-8 year old PCs and having all of their information Hardwired. They were started using interactive boards and they decided to move to iPads. They did a complete infrastructure overhauls. iPads are available to every student in the school on a 1:1 basis.
I think this is such a good idea. I think this is what the future of schools are going to be like. Students are using them day-to-day. The faculty is using Apps on the iPads that are free and assist the in educating the students. Students can e-mail assignments and get them back with comments that same day. I believe I will be using iPads in my teaching eventually, if I do not start off using them when I first teach. I just think every school is going to be getting rid of big, bulky, expensive textbooks. They are going to be using iPads for electronic books and resources. They are also going to be saving a LOT of trees. Paper is going to be saved so much if students can do assignments and papers electronically.
If they aren't using iPads in the future, it will be something similar to it: Kindles or Nooks. Any of these are viable options, and I think will just increase the quality of education for children today. The podcast is online here.
I think this is such a good idea. I think this is what the future of schools are going to be like. Students are using them day-to-day. The faculty is using Apps on the iPads that are free and assist the in educating the students. Students can e-mail assignments and get them back with comments that same day. I believe I will be using iPads in my teaching eventually, if I do not start off using them when I first teach. I just think every school is going to be getting rid of big, bulky, expensive textbooks. They are going to be using iPads for electronic books and resources. They are also going to be saving a LOT of trees. Paper is going to be saved so much if students can do assignments and papers electronically.
If they aren't using iPads in the future, it will be something similar to it: Kindles or Nooks. Any of these are viable options, and I think will just increase the quality of education for children today. The podcast is online here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)