Monday, April 21, 2014
Twitter Chat
I participated in the #flipclass chat. Since we are going 1:1 next year at the middle school, I wanted to see and learn what I could. I didn't get all of my questions answered, but I will continue to follow and participate to get more answers. The chat mainly centered around 3-4 people. It was good to hear what they are saying about their classrooms. The proctor asked some great questions. However, most of them pertained to only those who have already flipped their classrooms. It was still good to read about things that they would do differently and things they liked. Once I get into flipping my own class, it will be a lot easier to participate. I haven't followed anyone yet, but I have a couple in mind. I also want to keep following this chat and find others in my grade level/content area. Overall great experience for my first chat.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Web 2.0 for Educators
One tool that I've really started using educationally this year is Pinterest. Over the summer I started seeing the value that it has educationally. I absolutely love it. Somebody out there has already found or made a lesson that worked for them and are willing to share it with other teachers. I can do a search for a specific topic and find endless resources of activities and assignments and lessons. Last summer I began by doing a broad search for Common Core 7th grade math. I found people that had shared an entire unit. I firmly believe in the saying "Why reinvent the wheel?" If people are willing to share what they've found and made, then it must be of some value. I've only used this as a tool to use as a teacher, but I'm sure eventually someone will start pinning on how to use Pinterest in your classroom. Ay ideas?
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Social Networking
Social Networking is a network of friends, colleagues, and other personal contacts. It is an online community with a common interest who use a website or other technologies to communicate with each other and share information, resources, etc. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social+network)
I absolutely love getting to share ideas with other people. I follow Facebook pretty closely. I love being able to stay in touch with old friends and keep track of how they're doing. Over the course of the last year and a half, I am beginning to see how helpful they can be for teaching as well. I started Pinterest a couple of years ago, mainly to find great DIY projects for my home, and I have fallen in love with it. But just over the course of the summer, I have seen how helpful it can be in education as well. So many fellow teachers have created lessons or projects and want to share it with everyone. My philosophy is "Why reinvent the wheel?" If someone has put in all the leg work and is willing to share it with you, USE IT!!!!! I absolutely LOVE Pinterest.
In the last 2 weeks, I have joined Google+. I really like that you can follow certain topics that interest you. They will pop up any postings on your home screen. You can also post text, pictures, videos, etc. I love the Hangouts and that you can have a personal chat with someone. What's also really cool is the video portion of Hangouts. I think this would be really cool to have a Video Hangout with others schools around the country or even world to show them how diverse we can be. You could also have students follow certain educational sites. I followed Khan Academy, and they are always posting math videos on their page. I could have different students, whether low or high, watch certain videos they post and comment or attempt some problems. It's a very neat way to incorporate a social networking site into education. The kids love it!
Please share other things you like about Google+ as I am still learning, or any other social networking sites you love for education!
I absolutely love getting to share ideas with other people. I follow Facebook pretty closely. I love being able to stay in touch with old friends and keep track of how they're doing. Over the course of the last year and a half, I am beginning to see how helpful they can be for teaching as well. I started Pinterest a couple of years ago, mainly to find great DIY projects for my home, and I have fallen in love with it. But just over the course of the summer, I have seen how helpful it can be in education as well. So many fellow teachers have created lessons or projects and want to share it with everyone. My philosophy is "Why reinvent the wheel?" If someone has put in all the leg work and is willing to share it with you, USE IT!!!!! I absolutely LOVE Pinterest.
In the last 2 weeks, I have joined Google+. I really like that you can follow certain topics that interest you. They will pop up any postings on your home screen. You can also post text, pictures, videos, etc. I love the Hangouts and that you can have a personal chat with someone. What's also really cool is the video portion of Hangouts. I think this would be really cool to have a Video Hangout with others schools around the country or even world to show them how diverse we can be. You could also have students follow certain educational sites. I followed Khan Academy, and they are always posting math videos on their page. I could have different students, whether low or high, watch certain videos they post and comment or attempt some problems. It's a very neat way to incorporate a social networking site into education. The kids love it!
Please share other things you like about Google+ as I am still learning, or any other social networking sites you love for education!
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