Google Earth

Today we explored Google Earth in class and surprisingly it was my first time playing with this technology!! (I know, I'm a little behind) However, I loved it!! There are so many neat gadgets and expansions that you can learn a ton interactively. I loved being able to learn about a ship wreck or see photos from my neighborhood and trying to guess when they were taken. I also liked the collaborative aspect because you can add photos of popular landscapes, etc.

In the classroom it would be a great way to have kids learn about a section of the world that an author comes from (as a future English teacher) or an animal or a place being explored in a book. You can also use the historical timeline to learn about a place's history. There are tons of uses!

Podcast

I have decided to share with you a soothing reading of Edgar Allen Poe's "Annabelle Lee" with ocean sounds included from freesound.org! I hope you enjoy it :) (Also feel free to follow along here)

Tweet Tweet--but no bird in sight

As of right now, I am not the biggest fan of using Twitter in the classroom. This could be because I have always been proud of not participating in the website and now I have signed up for this site :( I can see some benefits of having your students follow you--especially for reminders about assignments/deadlines. I just think e-mails could be just as effective.

So I'm definitely skeptical but still keeping an open mind. I'm going to read the chapter on Twitter in our book and see if that helps, as well as re-look over some of the sites I've found on integrating it into the classroom. Maybe I'll put up the sites I find most helpful and see what you think :)

Google Docs-Love it!

Using Google Docs in a classroom setting seems like a brilliant idea. My first time ever using them was actually as a high school student and I thought they were easy and useful then. After using them for a project in the C&I 306 class, I can see even more things I can get out of them as a teacher. I like the forms especially and think it would be a good way to collect information from my students, and I think the students wouldn't mind filling them out because they are quick and easy and online--something they can relate to. I also think it would be a good way to collaborate with one another and to turn in work to me. I am excited for all the possibilities they possess and the ways in which I can use them for my own classroom.

Thoughts on Wikis

Just as most people in my generation have heard of wikipedia, it was nothing new to me. However, what I had never realized is that wikipedia is full of "wikis" and that there are all sorts of "wikis" out there. The thought just had never occurred to me. So when we started learning about them in the class and eventually creating them, I learned a lot of new information about this technology. I think they are very similar to blogging, though, unless there is a clear subject to input information about. If I were to do wikis in a high school, I would have them do the research outside of the internet first, or using electronic journals and then eventually gathering them into a blog. I found it far too easy to google my subject and then just use that information.
I think students would enjoy making a specialized wiki on a specific topic and then formatting their own wiki--so hopefully I will be able to play with that in the classroom one day.

Feelings about the Integration of Blogging and Classrooms

To be completely honest I was skeptical at first about using blogs in the classroom. However, after doing the readings and starting one for this class my opinion has changed. I think that blogging in the classroom will be really helpful and kind of fun for a lot of reasons. It will be an easy way to communicate homework and assignments and to get some discussions going, and it will be an excellent resource for the students. Even though this generation may be a bit too focused at times on technology, there is no denying that it is a huge part of society today so the students will be able to relate to it. I am hoping to teach secondary education, so I think having blogs in a high school classroom will be a fun experience and allow not only me to be creative, but the students as well. :)

Web English Teacher Site

This appears to be a very resourceful site for future English Teachers who are in need of lesson plans. There are all sorts of topics, and under each one are links to lesson plans from various teachers. I think this will be a site that I can use in the future and I like that it deals with all kinds of subcategories of English. It's a goodie!

PBS Lesson Plan Ideas

This site contains a lot of ideas on how to link some of the featured PBS programs to a lesson plan and contains some helpful links for teachers to use. I really like that not only is the site educational, but it also provides some new, creative ideas. I think I could come up with quite a few creative lesson plans based off of what the site has to offer. Feel free to check it out :)

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Audrey

Hello..

This is my first post in the C&I 306 class. How exciting. I'm sleepy.