Friday, September 18, 2009
Bring It On!
Well now that we've established our blogs for the Technology course at Walden University I am looking forward to getting things rolling at my school. There was actually a blog posted on the Chicago Public Schools e-mail site asking for our opinion on unblocking social networking , video and blogging sites. This is a step in the right direction in my opinion because if the tools are managed properly, with password protection and student privacy, it gives the a whole new world of resources to take advantage of for their studies. My colleague, a Walden Tech/Masters Alum, wants me to work with her ion a blogging workshop for our staff. I am looking forward to this PD activity even though I'm not sure yet what we're going to do.
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We have that blocked at our school too. I honestly don't think it serves much purpose. At our school the kids have laptops they take home so once they leave the filtering software they can get to those sites anyway and they do. We already watch them during class to make sure they are not doing inappropriate things on the screens so it wouldn't be hard to monitor what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI think there are some potential good applications of things like Twitter and YouTube so I would be in favor of it. Part of learning how to use technology is learning to use it responsibly and I feel we should be teaching that as well.
John, I also feel overwhelmed with ideas especially from our current Master's class. There are so many great technology tools that are out there to assist us in teaching to get away from direct instruction. When you post an assignment about a story, how do you get away for repetitive answers? My sixth grade colleagues use blogging on a daily basis. The students love it and are really motivated to answer the question daily. As a teacher that has not introduced it in my class yet, I am curious how to get students thinking outside of the box and not feeding off of other students responses. Have you considered this? I like the idea of using it as a review and seeing what needs to be retaught. Students would not be as nervous to answer if it was online verse a class discussion.
ReplyDeleteI have 3rd graders so ANY response is a good thing. I am thinking of setting it up in a debate style format with groups having to support or defend their point of view. I would tell the group if they are for or against a particular argument and see what it brings out. I just want them to get a positive feeling about contributing their ideas.
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