Classroom 2.0

A great resource for educators interested in technology is classroom 2.0! This site is a social networking site for "Social Media, and Participative Technologies in the classroom." This site provides virtual conferences to enhance educators knowledge of technology. This website allows its members to interact with one another through the means of social networking. It is a great way to meet fellow educators and enhance your knowledge with perspectives from all over the world with varying degrees of experiences and interests. There are different groups that you can join to interact with others who share similar interests. This is a great way for any practicing teacher or teacher candidate to enhance their knowledge and expose themselves to new practices.

A learner is like an apple

A learner is like an apple. Apples come from different places, were taken care of in different ways, are different kinds of shapes and colors, some have bruises, some are crispy, some are sweet. Apples, like learners are all different. Learners can come from different places, prior to schooling were taken care of in different ways, learners are all different shapes and colors, some learners have different features than others, and they all have different kinds of personalities.

In the article by Siemen, he quotes Landuar and Dumais (1997) in their statement that "people have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information to which they have been exposed." This statement is very important to remember about our learners in the classroom. Referring back to what was said about apples, when we see an apple in the grocery store and bring it home, we sometimes forget that this apple has been on a journey that we are unaware of. The apple could have been dropped on the ground, it could have been licked by an animal, or it could have been sitting in the grocery store for days. Looking at an apple you might forget about all of these factors, just like our learners. Learners have gone through journeys that affect their present learning in our classroom. We must acknowledge the interactions they have had because it shapes them as a learner and may have a heavy influence on their knowledge base. Although learners may not be exposing all of their capabilities to us in the classroom, as educators, we can never make assumptions about our learners knowledge base without challenging them to show it to us.


In his video "The Network is Learning" Siemen states, "What we know today is not as important as our ability to stay current. If what I know today is going to change because knowledge changes rapidly, if I am not continually learning I am becoming obsolete in my field." Classroom teachers have to ensure they are staying current in the field so they can be changing with the tides and continually learning, just as our students are. We need to continue to expose our learners to knew knowledge bases and as educators we need to utilize the most current tools to do so to make learning meaningful. Technology is a great resource to stay up to date in the field and to expand our knowledge base. Our students are growing, and changing as time changes. We need to make sure we water our apples with the best water so they can grow nice and ripe.

DIIGO vs. Scoop it

DIIGO and Scoop it are both sites that can be used as an alternative to "bookmarking" websites that people commonly do in their browsers. Both websites make sharing interests on the internet more convenient. Below is a table comparing the two and the features that they offer.

DIIGO	Scoop it
You can highlight texts and when you access the website at a later date the saved highlights will still be present. Multiple tags can be used. You can follow others, they can follow you. You can post comments on the users site. You are not offered suggestions for related articles.	You cannot highlight texts on Scoop it. Multiple tags can be used. You can follow others, they can follow you. You can post comments on the users site. You are offered suggestions for related articles.

According to my personal opinion, there are pros and cons to each of these websites. I see DIIGO as more of a academic research tool. It seems more to be for those who want to use outside sources from websites complied into one page, just like the "bookmarking" feature on internet browsers. DIIGO's ability to snapshot websites as well as highlight texts are very useful resources that are not found on Scoop it. Although Scoop lacks that particular feature, I think overall Scoop it is a better website to fit my needs. The interface of Scoop it is more attractive, it is easy to navigate, and it has more of a social networking feel. In my opinion, it is easier to follow topics and users. Scoop it reminds me of a website I often use called pintrest. I would continue to use Scoop it past this class because I think it is a great resource for teachers.

Shown above are screenshots of the two websites to get an idea of what their interface looks like.

A Technological Revolution Is A Means For An Educational Revolution

Education Change Challenge

 

This video addresses the issue of the classroom changing and how educators need to adapt to this change. As educators, we learn to differentiate instruction, and we know that all learners are different, no two learners learn the same way. This video questions why we put 25 kids in a classroom for 6 hours a day and teach to them all on the same level even though we know they all learn differently. The classroom has not changed much from 100 years ago, but in today's day in age our resources have grown immensely. As educators we need to take advantage of the world around us and teach our students how to function in the modern world, we must use these modern resources. Students are surrounded by technology and live in the technological age, we must teach to their interests in order to make our instruction relevant.The video leaves us with a very significant question, "Are we preparing students for my age or for theirs?". This is an important question we must ask ourselves as teachers. Even though technology may not be every teachers comfort zone, it is our students. Are we teaching for ourselves to comfortable, or for them?

Social Media Revolution 2011

This video addresses the social media revolution that is taking place in our world. It expresses the ideas of how important social media has become in the new age. Social media not only effects who we are online, but also our offline behavior. Social media is a means of acquiring information, meeting new people, and staying in touch with old friends. The limits to social media and the aspects of the internet are almost endless. As educators, this information is very relevant because we need to take advantage of all that social media has to offer and how it can enhance our learners. The amount of users on twitter and facebook are bigger than populations of some countries. There is a great chance that our students will be utilizing these social outlets and we should be generating our instruction to incorporate what our students are doing online. Social media is all around us, so why not bring it into the classroom?

Using blogs to meet learning standards

Blogging is a unqiue way to engage students in the classroom. As a teacher, using blogs can be beneficial for many reasons.

One way I can use blogs with my own students is for collaboration. According to "Blogging in Language Learning" blogs can be used for review by both peers and teachers. Students can use comment functions to share their opinions and recieve feedback. Blogging can help every student participate. Some students may not want to participate in the classroom because they are shy, blogging allows them to express themselves. Through blogging students are given a more "stress free" place to interact with their peers.Collobrating through blogs can also enhance creativity and open up more sources of knowledge.

As a professional, blogs can be used a source of reflection. I use online blogging for my personal use and it is a great way for me to track my progress, this can also be done professionally. Through blogging I can see my progress as an educator and view my failures as well as successes. Blogging offers an archive of all of my attempts to allow me to go back in self reflection. Through blogs my peers can also contribute to my progress and provide feedback that could further the reflection process.



Standard

STANDARD 3: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation.
Performance Indicator:
6. Speak and write, using the conventions and features of American English, to effectively influence an audience (e.g., to persuade, negotiate, argue). Such spoken language features include appropriate grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and intonation. Such written language features include appropriate grammar, vocabulary, correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. (S, W)

 NYS English as a Second Language Learning Standards