RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds are great to have in the classroom because it keeps you up to date on the latest news. You can personalize your homepage with different "feeds," which are links to sites that interests you. They range from anything you can possibly think of. I believe this would be good to use in the classroom especially if there is something specific you are following. You could have someone from the class check it daily to give an update on the latest news.

How the use of Google tools and docs can level the playing field

Google Docs is something that is new to me, but I believe it is something that will be very helpful for my students. I don't know how many times I've tried to submit an assignment through email and been asked to resubmit it in the correct Word format due to being the wrong version. What is great about Google Docs is that anyone can access it. This will make it easier for my students who may have an older version of a word processor or does not have one at all. It will also make my job much easier.

Changing the Class ROOM to a Class SPACE that includes the world in your classes.

Why would you only want to stay in the realm of a classroom when you can offer so much more to your students? Technology allows classes to be more than just learning information from a text book. I hope to use technology in my classroom not only to keep material up to date, but also use it in hopes of making learning more interesting and exciting. Ideas that come to mind is videocasting with another class from another part of the country, fun projects, and using material from the internet to reinforce topics from class. I want to use interactive learning in my classroom and hopefully that will be something that will interest my students.

Readers/Writers or Listeners/Watchers

All students learn in different ways. Especially in today's time of video games and television, many students have veered away from reading and focus more on visuals and listening. This makes it important as a teacher to incorporate all learning styles into the classroom, keeping in mind the importance of incorporating technology into the lessons because our society is so technologically advanced.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has a bad reputation for most teachers. However, I believe it is a great place to start looking and to get a summary of the topic. What some people do not know is that Wikipedia is regulated by professionals. The information that is not correct is thrown out from the site. If you read an article from this site, it has references at the end of the article, most of the time those are reputable sites. If my class is writing a paper I would encourage them to get enough information from this site to get a good idea of what the topic is about and have accumulated questions they could then research.

Youtube and Teachertube

Youtube and Teachertube are great tools to use to reinforce the material you have taught in class. Teachertube is set up for teachers, so they can find videos that are appropriate for subject and age level. This is a great way to help visual learners who may not have learned it the first time around. For example, if a child is struggling with the steps of mitosis in Biology why not find a video that shows these steps take place and the student can see a new cell form. Also, a great stipulation for the teacher is that it is free, quick and easy to use.

Podcast and Videocast

A podcast is a great way to evaluate students at the end of a unit. You can break the students up into groups and give them each a separate topic. They will then record themselves discussing these topics in a conversational, "fun" manner. To them, especially younger students, they will feel they are hosts on their own radio show. After they record, have a day where the teacher plays each podcast, allowing the group to take questions from the class. Later, you can upload the casts the class website, so the students can show their parents what they created at school. This would be a great example of No Burp Back Education.