Social Media in Collaborative Classrooms: Voice Thread

https://voicethread.com/share/5660786/

This Voice Thread shares with viewers the value and importance of collaboration in today’s classrooms.  Collaboration using social media if vitally important to a thriving online learning community.  Sharing information and ideas with others via social media contributes to the bank of knowledge available on the web and helps to prepare students to careers where team work and collaboration is fundamental to success.

Using Jux for Educational Purposes

Click the link below to preview the Jux Blogging tool.  A fantastic Web 2.0 tool to provide and adding engaging instructional content to the classroom.  This Jux was created for the 3rd Grade Aquarium Habitats units taught in our county.  The tool will be used as an anticipatory set allowing students to preview content prior to taught lessons.  Having background schema of the content will encourage students to explore their aquarium habitats more closely looking for evidence of the variables that affect a habitat or ecosystem.

Aquarium Habitats

 

Liblogians

What do librarians and blogs have in common?  They need one another like a cup needs a saucer.

I’d like to introduce you to three top librarian blogs and show you how others are incorporating blogging into their profession making an impact that far surpasses the brick and mortar walls in which they live.

The first blog is A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet.  This blog is chock full of useful information for librarians, librarian teachers, and classroom teachers alike.  If you are someone who enjoys looking for new technologies that are useful for instruction then this is the place for you.  Checking out Julie Greller’s exhaustive list of Web 2.0 Tools will take you quite some time.  New teachers, or seasoned veterans alike, will find a plethora of informative links and useful tools to build on their lessons or maybe even help create new ones.   She even offers Guest Posts that help librarians and teachers such as, Cultivating Diversity in Your Library.  In this post, Natalie Dias Lorenzi shares the statistics associated with an ever growing and culturally diverse population in our country.  She shows how to share wonderful literature and give book talks to children of diverse backgrounds.   Her nonthreatening manner in which she speaks to children about stories, make diverse text selections appealing options that may have otherwise gone unread by a wider audience.  Check out Julie’s blog today.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

Libary Matters is a great blog for showing how libraries and teachers place value and importance on libraries.  With current events and activities, the library is a buzzing place for young readers, mature readers, and everyone in between.  Mr. Dewey, Year 5 and whole lot of numbers is a video link on the sight that would make a great teaching tool to use when introducing or reviewing the Dewey Decimal system to intermediate and middle school students.  The rap style presentation is an engaging and fun watch.  But be careful, you might just want to jive too!

 

Tales from a Loud Librarian, shares the life of the school librarian Elizabeth Kahn.  Elizabeth has built a blog that chronicles her journey through building new library in preparation for the opening of a new school year at Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy in Avondale, LA.  She recommends books, especially young adult literature, that she most definitely enjoys as a librarian.   Other features of her blog include digital book talks that engage readers and draws greater interest in new, and some older titles that are still shelf worthy.   Elizabeth also shares some professional and student created book trailers that are sure to enthrall.  Her list of author visits and links to book recommendations are a great resource to students.

Each of the blogs above share a common theme, the love of reading.   Sharing this passion of reading and books with others in creative, informative, and useful ways is not only praiseworthy, but also inspiring.   As new teachers, librarians, and professionals begin their career, or as veterans to the professions begin to see these blogs and realize their power and value in education, they just might create a blog of their very own.  Follow these librarian blogs to stay current with new tools and resources and to get new ideas for blogging as you begin your path toward building a professional digital footprint..

Intentional Stumble Upons: Education Blogs You Can’t Miss!

Training & Consultancy

     The Learning Spy found at www.learningspy.co.uk is a blog all educators should feast their eyes on.  This thought provoking blog, written by David Didau, encourages teachers to think critically about today’s teaching practices and looks at ways to improve the learning environment our students engage in daily.    Some of the blogs postings you’ll find here include topics such as…

• Instructional practices
• Student performance
• Writing Strategies for students and teachers alike
• Building student independence
• Testing & Assessments

In, Why can’t we tell a good teacher through lesson observations? we learn that teaching styles vary from one group of students to the next and teaching fads come and go.  Read on to find out why teacher observations are not the end all be all to proving the high quality teacher in the classroom.

These topics pervade the blog and allow you to keep digging up useful and interesting information that in my eyes, makes better teachers.  I followed this blog so that I can keep up to speed with the latest in instructional practices and get a new perspective of what educational trends are working and ones that need some work.

http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au

    A second blog that should inspire teachers to be their best and build upon best teaching practices is Primary Tech by Kathleen Morris.  You can find her at Primary Tech . Kathleen’s blog gives teachers confidence that they can incorporate technology into their instructional day through blogging.  Giving students a digital voice while learning electronically, and expressing their thoughts with their classmates provides them with a rich and authentic mode of learning that meets the needs of a 21st century learner.

Some of her content rich topics include…

• Blogging and Literacy
• Student Blogs as Portfolios
• Benefits of Blogging

These posts, such as Blogging and the Literacy Curriculum, discuss the importance of being transliterate and show how Kathleen incorporates literacy into her language arts block in a natural and seamless manner.

ePortfolios will eventually follow people much like their social media status.  Starting a blog as a portfolio shows children and adults alike that you can build  your resume through your professional educational experiences…along with the college degree you will be much more marketable.  Paper portfolios are bulky and “old school.”  Kathleen demonstrate the authenticity of what a Blog Portfolio can show.

You’re sure to be encouraged to become a tech savvy educator after reading Kathleen’s use of blogging in the classroom.  The piece that I felt truly inspired by was the fluid feel of how she uses blogs.  There are no rigid routines and all engagement is meaningful.  Enjoy!

COOL CAT TEACHER BLOG: Teaching students with new tools, enthusiasm, and belief that teaching is a noble calling.

This fantastic blog, written by a teacher, author, and speaker Vicki Davis, provides just the ticket that every educator needs.  A glimpse into the work and life of educators.  Their struggles as well as successes resound throughout.  This blog gets to the heart of why teachers teach, the students.  Plenty of useful technology introductions and useful ideas for incorporating them into your busy life as well as the lives of your students are embedded within the postings.   Postings number in the hundreds each year telling me Vicki is onto something big and COOL.  She knows how to talk the talk and walk the walk so that teachers and students alike improve upon themselves as she forges ahead in this technological forest.  One theme that resounds in her postings is bringing out the best in people as the way to succeed in life and education.  Vicki shows this through her vivid, yet down to earth posts and podcasts.

I plan on sharing these special blogs with my colleagues as a way to build strong educators.  Teachers need to see that they are not alone in the world of education and technology.  Once educators get their hands on some high quality blogs their likelihood of revisiting them improves dramatically.   I can see the value of following people who resonate with your teaching philosophy and style, yet don’t forget, we learn from those who we disagree with as well.  The most important thing to note with blogs is quality of content.  Looking closely and critically at the content of blogs before hitting that infamous “Follow” button is important.  Don’t bog yourself down with too many blogs to follow too soon.  Be selective and implement only the technology or teaching strategies that are going to work for you.

Exploring WordPress

I love this blogging program.  So many things can be done and shared with others.  I am looking forward to learning more about it and how I can use it in the classroom or library setting.  I’ve  tried out several of the WordPress  themes and they all look great.  So far I’ve found this blogging platform easy to navigate and use.  Fingers crossed for a continuation of the same experience as I work through this course.

Welcome to my Learning Technologies Blog

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Here I plan to share learning experiences and the use of technology through active exploration.  Please visit often and look for updates and new postings.