I'm opening up this year with a place for all of you out in CCSD, and anyone else who wants to chime in for that matter, to post questions about digital tools and how to use them in your classroom. Although I will moderate this blog, it is open for anyone to post, so you might get some great responses from folks you don't know (which is the idea.)
You may ask questions about any digital tool that you currently use, or would like to use, in the classroom. Hopefully, we'll get enough folks interested that this will become a one stop resource for you to exchange ideas.
With that said, my first question is, what digital tool do you like to use best in the classroom and why? I've got to tell you, there are just too many out there for me to pick just one but if I was forced to, I'd have to say Web 2.0 tools. I know that covers a BUNCH of stuff, but I really can't pick. Without Web 2.0 I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing with this blog or the newsletter or the RSS feeds or anything else I'm doing.
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When I'm in my "classroom", which is wherever I've been asked to train our staff, I couldn't live without a projector. The projector is more than a big "light box". It allows ideas and discussions to take a visual form. From webpages, to videos, to interactive whiteboard lessons, the development of visual literacy skills is a must for today's classroom!
I really like the potential of laptops and handhelds. Students respond positively to these devices that seem such a natural fit (think the freedom to move about). I also like that they place learning opportunities where they should be placed: at the students’ fingertips. As a district, we're headed in the right direction and I'm really excited about what's on the horizon.
My latest classroom teaching "passion" is the SMART Board. It has affected me the way the old Macintosh SE did in the late 1980s. That old 9" black & white screen computer with the amazing 20 MB hard drive opened my eyes to the incredible potential computer technology had for classroom teaching and reshaped my career--and life. The SMART Board, I have to remind myself, is just one of many tools a teacher has at her disposal now--but what a tool! Hands-on manipulation coupled with the power of the web and the power of visual learning resources, coupled with teacher creativity enliven me to preach its benefits to all the educators I know. And, guess what, folks? That's just what I'm doing.
So far blogs are my favorite. They allow me to: collect student work without using tons of paper, e-mail assignments to parents, display exemplary work, bust plagiarists. It is also a medium through which students seem to be more engaged.
I would like to add a wiki later, but I am still in the drawing-board stage of how that would look.
Back to blogging, I am starting to incorporate video, and may ask the students to do the same as well.
The most valuable new tool for me this semester has been my new class forum. It facilitates class discussion, and it enables me to type out directions for students with links included, and it gives my students a chance to reply to me if something is unclear. It has been great in conjunction with my class wiki, where I can store all of the information and files my students will need to complete assignments.
I am looking forward to exploring Podcasts next quarter, and hopefully I'll have a couple of RSS feeds up early in January to put some of our stuff out there.
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