I found the topic this week to be very interesting and particularly beneficial to me as a teacher, especially starting out with the great reading (Zimmer). Although, the reading did take me quite a while to get through as I signed up to almost all of the websites and online resources provided. Some will be more beneficial than others and this will differ between KLA's. I also found some really great webquests on creative writing. Blooms digital taxonomy prezi was interesting as well and I look forward to applying them in a real class situation.
I explored the digital citizens page, however wasn't very impressed. Many of the games I could not open (I was using the university library computers) and were not clear or would not allow me to answer the questions in the quiz's to move onto the next question.
In terms of using facebook in the classroom, I would be very hesitant as I dont see how this could be beneficial. I find facebook a distraction to students in general. I use facebook but in no way does it assist my teaching and learning. I joined twitter after the reading this week so am still figuring out how to use it and ways in which it could be used in an educational context. I follow a few people in my field, however mostly people/groups to do with travel, food and technology. I have not participated in any educhat sessions (what are these?).
One type of media that I played around on was 'Glog', I created my own Glog which was simple and not really time consuming. I really like the idea of visual representation, especially within my KLA, and 'glogging' is a great way to do this.
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem as you did on the digital citizens page, although I was working form my home computer. It was very frustrating! The website seems to be a great idea, just maybe not implemented in the best way.
I very much agree with you on your stance in regards to using facebook in the classroom. I can only see this turning out to be a complete nightmare! I think it would be almost impossible for a single teacher to monitor 20-30 students whilst using facebook. The argument that was made (kids these days communicate with facebook, so it makes sense to integrate this into the classroom), makes sense in theory, but in reality, I don't see how it could work to benefit their eduction. I can see students more interested in checking their friends' profiles and photos rather than participating in the activity at hand,(unless of course that was part of the activity?). I think facebook has too broad a scope to be able to expect students to use it for a single classroom activity. Having said all of this, I would be open to knowing more about how/if people have successfully used facebook in their lessons!
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Emily with regards to facebook. I fail to see how it could be useful in my KLA, maths, but I have a teenage daughter and her school dance class has a page where there teacher places tapings of their rehearsals or videos of good choreography. The teacher also uses it as a way of communication for extra practices etc......lets face it most of the kids are on facebook ALL the time. This is a private group page that only people the teacher approves can be friends and parents are included so they know what is happening. I think this use of facebook is practical and beneficial.
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that using Facebook within the classroom setting is not a good idea because it would it would simply encourage students to use it more. Especially at my school, almost every student within the classroom had a laptop, and as I was teaching, I would walk around the classroom and noticed that almost every student would sign onto Facebook.
I would introduce the students to other programs via the web instead of programs that they are already familiar with. I believe that the students would not be engaged if I used Facebook as an exemplar because they already know about it. For one lesson, I actually taught the students how to use Onenote to help them organize their class notes. I made each student create 5 tabs for their 5 courses and showed them how to section off their notes to keep them neat and organized. The students were well engaged and fully receptive. Most of the students thanked me for teaching them how to use a new program and asked me if I could teach them about others. I realized that in order for teachers to incorporate the laptops within the classroom, it is crucial to teach the students about particular programs and utilize them for lessons to keep them focused and on task.