Final Thoughts

This class has been a great experience. I especially enjoyed the digital story-telling assignment. I think the kids will love finding pictures and turning them into a video! I also enjoyed the RSS Feeds. I never knew what Google Reader was all about. I am now receiving information instead of going out and looking for it on my own! What a timesaver. My favorite site is the Free Technology for Teachers RSS Feed. I have access to many websites that I can use to incorporate technology into my classroom!!

I would like to wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a healthy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope to catch up to all of you in the spring as I am not taking this next class. Good Luck to all of you!!!

Social Media

"Resources to Help Schools Understand Social Media", a blog from Mr. Byrne in my Free Technology for Teachers RSS Feed really hit home with me as we have been having some problems at school with the misuse of a popular social media site. Although this blog did not discuss the misuse of social media it used one phrase that caught my eye "productive uses of social media". Maybe if schools take a proactive approach to social media and begin to use it within the school to unite one another and for uses other than just conversation, students may begin use it in a different way as well. Just wishful thinking, I know, but it has to start somewhere!

Collaboration

In the Classroom Technology RSS Feed, "Keeping Students Engaged in the Classroom", Mr. Love discusses the idea of collaboration among the students. All lessons have the potential for collaboration. A quick "think, pair, share" is a simple collaboration technique that instantly engages the entire classroom. If this technique is used daily, students will begin to anticipate the activity and will pay attention so that they can be active participants in the following discussion.

Reference:

Love, (2010, Dec. 6). "Keeping Students Engaged in the Classroom". Retrieved on December 8, 2010 from http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fjlove1127.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault

Learning Time

Anne O'Brien expresses her concern about cutting the number of school days/hours in the Edutopia blog,"Extend, Don't Cut, Learning Time". She is exactly right. How can states reduce the number of hours that students are spending in school when our students already spend less time in learning than those students in nations such as Japan,China, and India. How are our childen supposed to compete in a global economy if they are not receiving the same education as those they are competing with?

Reference:

O'Brien, A. (2010, Dec. 8). "Extend, Don't Cut, Learning Time". Retrieved on December 8, 2010 from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/extend-learning-time-no-cuts-anne-obrien?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29&utm_content=Google+Reader.

Creative Commons Images Search Engine

With all of our new knowledge of copyright laws and Creative Commons licenses I thought that a link to this website would be especially helpful to all of us in EDU653. In the RSS Feed, Free Technology for Teachers, Mr. Byrne posted a link to a website called Wylio. This website searches for only those images that have Creative Commons licenses. How cool is that? It also provides the html code and any other information needed to give credit to the originator.

Here is the link: http://wylio.com/

Check it out!!

Reference:

Byrne. (2010, Nov. 30). "Wylio - Creative Commons Images for Bloggers". Retrieved on December 3, 2010 from http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Ffreetech4teachers%2FcGEY.

Math

As a math major, I am always looking for new ways to approach those students that seem to be terrified of math. Edutopia RSS Feed, "Building Math Positivity" offers a few simple ideas to help students through simple mind blocks they may have. Many students shut down when it comes to math, especially when it comes to test taking. Judy Willis suggests that you make students retake tests that receive a grade lower than an 85%. This take some of the pressure off. Also, she suggest making math more "real-world" and not so isolated. Learning math that doesn't have any real connection to the students every day life causes them to shut down, as well.

Reference:
Willis, J. (2010, Dec. 1). "Building Math Positivity". Retrieved on December 3, 2010 from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/building-math-positivity?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Create Easy Comics

When I was looking through my Free Technology for Teacher RSS Feed, I came across a link for a comic website that is very simple to use and it does not require that you sign up, give a name or any other information. This makes it super simple for kids to use. The site is http://writecomics.com. There are quite a few settings and characters to choose from and a comic can be created in a matter of minutes. The site then provides a link. Kids love making comics and especially sharing them with the class. Check out the comic I made on chatspeak at http://writecomics.com/gen/4299.html.

Reference:

Byrne. (2010, Dec 3). "Write Comics - A Simple Comic Strip Generator". Retrieved on December 3, 2010 from http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Ffreetech4teachers%2FcGEY.