eTeachers

The iPod is more than a music player.  We have explored every facet and feature of the iPod today as well as how to access additional resources that will increase the versatility of your iPod.  I hope that it has been a valuable use of your time.  Take a few minutes to reflect on what we have talked about.  Share some ideas of how you want to use your new iPod in the classroom.  Share some things that you are excited about or some concerns that you have.

Blogging gives you and your students the opportunity to instantly become published authors.  Librarians can share and collaborate with their students regardless of time or location and then revisit the conversations as the need arises.  Let’s practice blogging.  Go to http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/ and choose a quote that is meaningful to you.  Come back to this blog to share your quote, and tell why it is so meaningful to you.  After posting, take time to read others’ quotes and respond to at least one other person.

What questions or concerns do you have about blogging?

Think about your curriculum.  Is there a unit where blogging might fit in?  What unit would you use it in?  What questions could you ask? 

Here in Wicomico County we are trying to encourage the use of technology in daily instruction.  Many of our forward thinking teachers have applied for and received bundles of exciting techno tools to utilize in their classroom.  As part of their training to use these tools they participate in monthly workshops.  Our most recent workshop focused on Web 2.0 tools.  With that in mind, I decided to create a blog to use as a forum for sharing ideas and generating solutions to problems we encounter. 

We have been fortunate in that the teachers who have received this technology are willing to put in the time it takes to “play” with and learn how to use the software and hardware. 

To start off, I found some ideas for using blogs in the educational setting. I have visited tons and tons of blogs by teachers and the uses and formats that the blogs take vary from blog to blog. The following is a brief compolation of some of the ideas I saw in my web travels.

• Sharing homework/class projects
• Posting and responding to student writing
• Sharing pictures from field trips
• Communicating with parents
• Literature circle type activities
• Group discussions
• Portfolios
• Posting rubrics for assignments
• Providing a forum for students to give input to rubrics
• Posting a problem of the week
• Providing a forum for thinking aloud about ideas for problem solving
• Sharing classroom news
• Discussing current events
• Posting and discussing content related pictures

I would love to hear of other ideas out there! Share!