SPRING II WEEK SIX DISCUSSION (DIS 01 & 02)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Emily June Hughes on April 13, 2014 at 2:59pm

For my Technology Based post from TeachThought blog I chose a blog based on the Top Ten Social Media Sites for Teachers.  This blog gives a list of ten websites that helps teachers connect to their students and helps the students become more engaged in learning. 

Social Media websites are a great way to stay connected to our students.  The Social Media sites allow our students to use technology, read on their comfort level, and to become more engaged.  The students can  sometimes become overwhelmed by teacher using social media sites since some students may not be used to technology themselves.  Another con is that the students will have to be monitored more intensely since they will be on computers and there are more risks with computers.

Some of the websites that this blog mentioned were Edmodo, Twiducate, Tween Tribune, and Sumdog.  Edmodo is a great website where the students and teachers can collaborate online and where the students can complete individual assignments while using technology.  Twiducate is a twitter site just for the classrooms.  The teacher gets a code and the students join the class.  The class can only see their posts and the teacher allows what can be post and denies what they deem inappropriate.  Tween Tribune is a great website where students can find current events that are more on their interests and their lexile level.  Sumdog is a gaming website where the students use flashcards and race against each other or themselves to do better and to learn.

I will definitely be using some of these websites in my classroom. I am going to look at Twiducate and Tween Tribune in order to incorporate them into my classroom.  I already have a Twitter Feed in the back of my classroom but with post it notes.  I think if the students can actually use technology and post to a Twiducate account that they will enjoy it more, participate more, and will comment on other students posts more.

http://www.teachthought.com/technology/10-different-social-media-si...

Permalink Reply by Krista Attix on April 18, 2014 at 9:45am

Emily,

I found your post to be incredibly insightful! I teach 6th grade, and most of my students are fluent with technology. They are already working with many social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Your post gave me a few ideas to use in the classroom! Keeping my students engaged in the material is something that I constantly work on. I like to incorporate things that they are familiar with or interested in. As soon as I read your post, I went to Twiducate and I think my students will love it! It is very similar to the traditional Twitter site, but allows more teacher discretion for posting. I have already assigned each of my students a log-in and password, and plan to start using it when we get back from break. They will love the idea of posting on a site like Twitter, and "liking" their peers comments. This will be a great way to get them engaged in their learning, and post about material they have learned in class. Thanks for sharing!

Permalink Reply by Lauren Lucca on April 24, 2014 at 4:35pm

Emily,

Thanks for the post! I have had some coworkers recommend Edmodo and have utilized it very briefly. I think if I really took the time to look into using it properly, it could really be a benefit to the classroom. I do agree that we need to use what is available to motivate our students. In this case, use what they like to do, such as social media. As you said, the catch would be monitoring how the students are interacting with the technology. I did a few Ipad lessons and the kids were so excited to use them, but they started to stray after a bit. Reining them in and keeping them on task is the challenge. I definitely think these ideas have potential though, and definitely want to look into using them in the future. Thanks for the insight!

Lauren

Permalink Reply by Christian Reynolds on April 26, 2014 at 7:27pm

Emily I have never heard of Twiducate or Tween Tribune.  Twiducate sounds like something that I would enjoy being able to use when have a music program where I would like be able to pass along announcements and also be able to let my students make comments on performances or give thanks to each other or even just say hi.  I also like that I as the teacher would be able to monitor what is posted so that I know that if a students tries to post something that they shouldn't I will be able to not only not post it but I will know who it was so that I can sit them down to explain and maybe make a learning experience out of it.  thank you for posting on this.  

Permalink Reply by Jillian Willey on April 14, 2014 at 3:52pm

The TeachThought blog that I viewed was on the 30 best iPad apps for group project - based learning. This blog lists the top 30 best blogs for this type of learning. Each app listed includes a description and link to the homepage of that app. 

Many of the apps listed I am familiar with. Some of the apps listed made sense to me as a way to have students work collaboratively and some I have used or thought of using. These apps include: VoiceThread, Pages, Evernote, Kidblog and mind mapping. However, some were a surprise to me, such as pinterest. I use it in my personal life, but I had never thought of the possibility of using it with my students. There were also a bunch of apps I had never heard of. This blog has provided me with a great number of new resources to check out that I may be able to use moving forward in my classroom. I also want to start thinking of some of the apps I use daily, and see if I can utilize them in a productive and meaningful way with my students. For example, going back to pinterest. I had never even considered it a potential school app. I thought about it for a few moments and thought of students creating a group board for a group project that students could use to store ideas. Or a project could even be for students to create a pinterest page about a certain topic. It is incredible how much technology is right in front of us and sometimes we are still blind to its many possibilities. I am excited for the doors this blog has now opened for me. 

In order to stay up-to-date on emerging trends in technology I will do my research regularly on what is out there. A simple Google search can be enough to learn about these new technologies. Also checking in with the blogs and various other resources provided thought out this course, and others, to see what the latest is. 

Blog: http://www.teachthought.com/apps-2/30-of-the-best-apps-for-group-pr...

Permalink Reply by Christine Smith on April 16, 2014 at 3:35pm

Wow, I didn't know you can make a group board on Pinterest.  That's a great idea.  I also love using Pinterest in my personal life, but you bring up a great note about using it with your students.  However, I do know I cannot access the site on our school computers.  Apparently there's a way to look up not-so-good-things on the site.  May be a road block in planning.

Permalink Reply by Emily June Hughes on April 16, 2014 at 5:56pm

Wow!  Your post is so informative and gave me so many great ideas!  I want to try using Pintrest in my classroom.  Pintrest is such a great website / app and you can use it in so many different ways.  The students could easily make boards on pintrest and gain so many different creative ideas.  I like how you mentioned that students could use pintrest to make a group board.  That is a great idea and then all of the students in the group could be represented.  You could have the students create a project based off of their ideas of you could have them present them.  You could use pintrest as a virtual dream board for the kids as an ice breaker in the beginning of the year as well.  You could have the students create a pintrest page on things they like and enjoy and then have them present them to the class.  Great post!

Permalink Reply by Megan Rice on April 26, 2014 at 1:18pm

Jillian,
Your post was really informative!  As you, I am familiar with many of the applications listed but I was surprised by some as well.  I will definitely be looking into some of the recommendations to incorporate into my class too.  The article is a great reference, because sometimes when I am searching, I get overwhelmed for feel it is really too time consuming.  So, to have an article that provides such a comprehensive list is great!

My school using iPads (BYOD), but not all students have access, so it's not so simple to allows apply in the classroom.  We are hopeful that will change soon.  In the mean time, I could give some of the ideas to my students to use to help them, if they are struggling in a certain area.

Again, thanks for sharing your article, I will be referring to it again, I'm sure!

Permalink Reply by Lauren Lucca on April 26, 2014 at 6:52pm

Wow that is such a neat idea Jillian! I never considered using Pinterest in my classroom. I also use it in my every day life, but never realized I could use it in the classroom to create a way for my students to collaborate. I know my middle school students love using it for their own personal use (they love to tell me about it) and so I think that would really make them interested in using it in class. I do think there would need to be some sort of a limit to the internet so that students could not access anything online, but it could be a great way to introduce themselves at the beginning of the year or to collaborate on ideas for a project. Thanks for the great idea!

Permalink Reply by Tom DeMatteis on April 15, 2014 at 5:13pm

The Technology Based topic from TeachThought I chose is the 100 Of The Best Educational Games For iPad.  I chose this topic because integrating quality games into my curriculum is something I have been trying to do.

I mostly teach low phase freshman.  These are students who scored in the bottom 25% of our entrance test and many of them have documented learning differences.  As we are in the first year of an iPad initiative at our school, I believe these students would benefit from games being a regular part of units.  However, I have had a difficult time finding age appropriate and ability appropriate ones to use.  I have spent a lot of time looking for games that involve grammar, but have not had much success.  This kind of sums up the pros and cons of this topic: games would work well with these students, but the right ones have been hard to come by.

In perusing this blog, I came across a few games although none that focused on parts of speech/grammar.  There were several on SAT prep and SAT vocabulary games.  These would be good to use to draw the students in to a topic that they are not usually too enthusiastic about.  I found a couple of others that I could somehow tie in to grammar lessons.  One was on creating Word Clouds.  As we cover each part of speech, I could have the students make different Clouds.  Another was on photo editing.  The students could be assigned to take and edit photos showing the various parts of speech. 

The most important and perhaps the best way to stay up to date on technology emerging trends is to do what I am doing, taking classes.  Prior to beginning this masters program and probably again after I complete it, I will depend on professional development provided by my school and as well as other outlets.  I have also become familiar with countless sites that will help to keep me up to date.

http://www.teachthought.com/technology/100-best-educational-games-i...

Permalink Reply by Emily June Hughes on April 16, 2014 at 5:58pm

Great post!!  I liked your ideas that have the students creating word clouds and editing photos to show the different parts of speech.  The students will have so much fun being creative and they will learn everything they need to know!  The students will definitely be engaged with these lessons.  Great job!

Permalink Reply by Ashlynn Maloy on April 19, 2014 at 6:52pm

Tom, your article seems very informative! I am also constantly looking for educational games that my students would enjoy playing. As I have searched for these apps I have also came across some good apps but also a few terrible apps that are not educational. The word cloud app as well as the photo editing app seems very interesting. As I have used websites with these tools I have not come across the app. I know these apps can be differentiated among the different learners. They are a great idea and can be incorporated in many subjects across the curriculum! I look forward to reading your article to find new ideas for my kindergarteners.

Ashlynn

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