Hello Peter and welcome to classroom2.0 I have used nings with students as part of the flatclassroom projects. For these projects it is used very much as social networking for the students from the various countires to get to know each other. They can write blogs, comment on each other's page, share photos, add videos and join in discussions. Careful monitoring is required by the moderators to ensure that all memberships are moderated and that applicants are genuine. Students need to be taught appropriate digital citizenship, netiquette when working with others, copyright in regard to work added etc. I am a member of a number of nings from personal networking purposes and I feel they have great potential for students. You can let ning know that you are working with students to keep your ning ad free as well.
Hi everyone! I am a teacher of English from Tunisia. Looking forward to meet all of you here and to share advice and tips about teaching techniques and tools.
Just found this site yesterday and love it already. I teach K to 8 IT and digital media at a Jewish day school in Dallas. I see my kids once per week, which is roughly 25 hours total per year, with holy days, assemblies, etc. My biggest challenge is getting colleagues to come along for the ride. They are very resistant to learning and embracing IT in the classroom. We have smartboards and all sorts of bells and whistles that collect dust. I've only been there five years and finally weaned them off floppies last year...geesh. Anyway, my kids love their 45 minutes a week in the labs. I take a very maverick approach to how I work with them. I do not spoonfeed key strokes. I teach them a global view of how Windows works...the commonalities of all Windows programs and why they can find their OWN solutions to their own task needs. So the content of our work is often silly and fun...this is not pleasing to my admins and I am trying to convince them that it's about PROCESS not CONTENT.
Hi! My name is Fran Riley. I just joined Classroom 2.0. I've been teaching for 26 years-most of that time in kindergarten and first grade. I currently teach a regular education first grade with BSI (Basic Skills Instruction), ESL (English as a Second Language) and Advanced Studies students in New Jersey. This summer I had the opportunity to attend a tech summer camp in my school district. We briefly touched on google docs, wikis, blogs, podcasts, video threads, social networks... I am overwhelmed by all the possibilities, but I'm hooked. I'm excited about the direction my school district is taking. I look forward to learning as much as I can. I want to bring the technology into my classroom and share what I've learned with my grade level colleagues.
Hi, my name is Tony VonBank. I teach high school English in Belle Plaine. I am very interested in teaching with tech, but I am not a native tech guy, so I learn by feeling my way around blindly in the dark. I decided a few years ago to pitch a Global Communication class, and got a lot of support, but there is no playbook for it, so I just have the class try things here and there and if it works, we keep it! I chose The World Is Flat as our reading, along with a lot of articles and such. I teach traditional technical writing, but I am always looking for ways to do it with 21st Cen Skills. I started using Blogger, Google Docs, and Wikis last year, but really hit or miss. This year, I am ready before we start, and will be, for lack of a better word, "forcing" these applications on my class. I love how all of the Google stuff works so seamlessly with almost anything (and it's free). Looking for connections to other classes that do some of the things we do, and looking for participants for my blog on teaching with Google. THis site is amazing, and I am already getting a lot from it!
I'm a technology coordinator and 8th grade LA teacher from New London, Wi. I joined this ning last spring and see a lot of great things to view and discuss. i jsut haven't been able to give this site the priority I intended, but I am not giving up. Have conquered a few other challenges in the past few months so soon I hope to be able to view more presentations and become a contributor. Looking forward to that............ Gail
I am an intervention coach for teachers of grades k-6 in Ohio. We are trying to create a program that is based on 21st century skills (collaboration, communication, creativity) using technology as our vehicle. We would like to increase both rigor and relevance (Daggett's work) through both service and project-based learning. Anyone up for collborating on a project, or does anyone have any helpful ideas to move us in the right direction?
Hi all. I work in Richmond, Virginia. I teach third grade in an inner-city school, in a high-crime, high poverty area. I am looking to meet folks and share ideas. I am especially interested in Power Teaching/ Whole Brain Teaching.
Hello! I'm Eileen Doherty and I'm currently a 5th grade teacher in Fort Wayne, IN. I'm hoping to get some good ideas for using technology this year in my classroom. I already found some cool ideas that I'm going to try out.
Hi!
I'm the Technology Integration Specialist at a Pre-K to 5 school in Copperas Cove, TX. Essentially, in my position, I teach teachers about technology, and how to integrate it into the curriculum. It's a fun, interesting job and never boring. This is the second year for this position in our district, and we are finding out that we are either not as advanced or more advanced than a lot of districts in Texas, so I feel fortunate to be in the middle, and not on either end.
I am currently doing presentations to our teachers on Virtual Field Trips, and on Thinkfinity (I'm the district field trainer), and feel very blessed to be doing all I can to teach others how to implement technology into the classroom.
My goals this year are to do many more podcasts with my students, and to use Word Thread in some of my podcasting, to show my students how big (and small) the world really is.
Hello everyone. I'm an Instructional Technology Consultant for Berrien RESA in southwest Michigan. I coordinate H323 videoconferencing for our schools. We use VC to connect to content providers and other classrooms to enhance learning. We use Web 2.0 tools to support our collaborative projects.