One of my first things I did in my anxious weeks before my first teaching assignment, I went on a technology binge of class-specific online resources. I created an AOL instant messenger address for just teaching, I created a wiki for my classes, and I created a class blog. I was very hopeful going into my first year teaching to bring such new technologies into education.... Of course, I walk into my first year teaching and barely am able to keep up with Geography and Government. I quickly forgot about the blog because of my time being used up for lesson planning and other basics.
I see blogging as a potential educational tool. I think I need a little push in the right direction to make it work well in my classroom.
I see blogging as a potential educational tool. I think I need a little push in the right direction to make it work well in my classroom.
I am wondering if what you learned about Design in the last semester may influence you to rethink how you incorporated these tools previously?
ReplyDeleteMy biggest concern is not using it, but how I am going to use it. So, I would agree that last semester's focus on design and planning would definitely influence me to make a better educational blog.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a great place to have your students interact with one another to talk about the current topics in the subject they are studying. If you are teaching the government class this semester have them keep up with Obama or other government topics. You could post the idea you would like them to discuss and they could comment...does that make sense? Or would it be worth while as a homework assignment even?
ReplyDeleteI can see you creating all of those before you started teaching. I am glad to know that your first year of teaching was overwhelming...have you told your student teacher yet? It will be fun to see how you use blogs and wikis in your class, now that you have time to think about them. I think it will be fun to use them to get students to write down their thoughts about a subject, or to share their knowledge about it.
ReplyDeleteI can also see Wikis as being used for a survey. A way of having students give their viewpoints on a unit taught. The Pros and Cons. Students can write down what they know about a subject, so the teacher knows what students strengths and weaknesses are.
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