The classroom is a learning environment in constant change. Technological skills are becoming more important as you require these basic knowledges to survive in the modern world. The roles and approaches of teachers are drastically changing in the classroom. Teacher need to continue upgrading their training and abilities to be an effective teacher. This course gave a brief overview to many useful tools and generated ideas in their possible applications in the classroom.
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| Me, Rocking out our textbook- It was difficult as I had to read it in the bathroom mirror as you can see... |
Blogging is an application that had been examined in this course. This tool has many aspects that can be used in a classroom; having students collaboratively contributing or working independently. Blogs can be used fro students to display their projects, share ideas/views, or gain new insight on particular subjects.
During the course, I enjoy creating on my blog as if gave me ways to share some of thoughts, ideas and images of cakes I have made. Of course, in everything, there is always room for improvement; mainly, my personal insecurity. My insecurity in computer skills and possible overall interest on a subject so specific, such as cake decorating.
I can see myself using Blogs to aid my teaching in a classroom. There are many uses to using blogs in a classroom; blogs could be used as a paperless online- journal, or have a class develop a blog regarding a class project, or it could be used as news feeds regarding school/classroom activities to parents. Blogger.com that we used during the course was clear and simple in posting entries; I would continue to use this site for any future projects.
Of all the application examined in the course, Wikispaces were the newest to me and in all honesty, I am still uncomfortable with using it in a classroom. I will need to continue exploring Wikispaces in hopes that I will be able to incorporate it into lesson plans. Using this application to share the student’s knowledge on particular subjects would allow them to understand the process of researching, writing, peer editing, editing, publishing, etc. I would consider this a form of the Writing Process, just easier to make changes.
I don’t think I will continue using Wikis on a personal level however I would like try using it in a classroom setting. I think editing a Wikipedia page like we did to the Iqaluit page, and I think developing the Nunavut Teacher Education Program (NTEP) page was a great way of having our class collbrativelly contribute to a class project
RRS feeds is a great tool to use when wanting to access many sites all at once and it is great since you are able to customize the feeds you would like to follow. I have not used Reader Google as frequently as some of my classmates, however when I have used it I can really see the benefits a classroom could gain from this tool.
The most obvious would be the able to track a particular interest with their most recent updates and current events. Since this lesson, I have noted when websites offer RSS feeds and I have noticed that the there are many varied subjects and interests. Of course, this I would probably introduce this application to an older grade, however I could use it as a resource when teaching younger grades.
My basic introduction into Social Webbing, such as Twitter, was not well received. I am still unsure how I would be able to incorporate these types of social webbing into the classroom. However, this lack of insecurity could be a result of my lack of interest. Maybe I have not got the whole concept of Twitter, however I think still see it as a social tool that I am not sure how I could introduce into my class. Time will tell…
As visual learner, I really enjoyed navigating through the Flickr website, uploading photos was simple and I really enjoyed the limitless description box. The tool to sort and tag photos allowed for images to remain organized and properly categorized.
Flickr would be incorporated into my future classroom for my students to use an image bank and assist in gaining new knowledges from around the world. I like the idea of pairing up with another classroom to share experiences and different life realities with simple images. The Geo tagging tool is a grea feature to have student part thinking globally.
I most enjoyed the podcasting section of this course. When creating your own piece you really start to gain ownership of the assignment/project it can quickly and easily become a personal project. I have in the past and will continue to use videocasting, its great way to stay connected with long-distant relatives.
I can clearly see myself introducing video casting and podcasting into my classroom. Progressive projects always have students feel happy, confident and proud of their final product, and uploading these items would easily have parents view and share class projects. There are so many creative aspects to using video or podcasts in a classroom.
Of course, many of us will be most familiar with Social Networking.
Personally, I use websites, such as Facebook, to remain connected with family and loved ones. I enjoy Facebook in particular since it allows us to share with our network through various mediums; status updates, pictures, videos, event pages, messaging, etc. The Ning site we used for the course had us familiarize with the possible uses in the classroom. Ning reminds me of the Blackboard program I used in my university years. Once I got a hang of navigating through this program, submitted papers, taking quizzes, contributing to forums was easy.
In some sense, today’s classroom walls are continuing to expand to include the cyber community. As a teacher candidate, I would like to be an effective teacher that knows how to gain my students attention and interest to obtain skills to succeed in life. For me to succeed with this goal I will need the confidence and skills to guide students through technology based lessons and I continue to be open to gain these abilities.
