Animoto

Animoto is a great website to use for teaching. The purpose of this website is to publish visual stories. A free version of this website allows users to create a 30 second video accompanied by music and text with a link to the final product once it is 'published'. There are more features that become available once the user has a paid account but for educational classroom use it is most likely that the free version will be used.


Here is an example of an animoto that I created based on the book, The Hunger Games.


The Hunger Games

The use of this website in an ESL classroom would be useful for story telling. Students can use the website to retell a story they have already in class (to demonstrate comprehension) or to tell their own story (to get to know your students/get to know each other). The use of pictures, texts, and music makes the process individualized for each student. Students who are at a lower proficiency level can rely on the pictures to convey their meaning with minimal use of words. Students at more advanced levels can be expected to write a little more. This is a great way to differentiate instruction among students. Students can express themselves through using this tool because they get to select their own pictures and music which makes the task more motivating and exciting. This is also a great way to learn about your students on a personal level. The website is very easy to use so teachers should not worry about difficulty with using technology. Although a separate lesson may need to include how to upload a picture, or how to upload a song this can be a meaningful lesson for students that can be transferable to when they work with different websites who use similar functions. Remember, the most important thing in incorporating technology in the classroom is having a clear purpose so students understand what is expected of them!

I followed the #edtech chat on Monday September 30th from 8:00pm-9:00pm. I thought it was very interesting to be involved in a live chat. I am a very big twitter user and oftentimes I use my twitter to follow different hashtags or to communicate with other people who are at the same event as me (ex: concerts). I never thought of using twitter educationally. I created a separate account for my twitter for this course because my personal account is private. My account is private so my students can't follow me. I think twitter can be a great place for professional development but currently, as a college student, I use my twitter heavily for my personal life and I do not think it is appropriate to be mixing the two, I like to keep them separate. I feel much more comfortable that way. On my personal account I would like to add microbloggers to follow as well as other ESL/EDtech related twitter accounts. I also want to check in on some live chats, maybe to just view and not participate on my personal account. I think that the live chats keep educators current in the field. It made me feel like a part of the current education world which is important for an aspiring teacher.

Here is a link to my professional twitter account.

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?