Podcasting

      I love the site BBC World News for Children website which updates children on world news through podcasts. This website breaks up the podcasts into age ranges for each student and also offers many free podcasts to students. My favorite podcast so far is Learn Out Loud which has free speeches of the Great Speeches in History. This podcast is of key speeches in history like King Georges speech which a movie was just created after, the Gettysburg address, and Obama's 2004 speech. This allows students to become part of events which happened years ago. 

ePals

ePals is great way to connect students and teachers all over the world. This site offers ready made lesson plans for teachers to use which include standards, objectives, and a calendar of when to complete each part of the lesson. It also allows you to see new lessons and units which other teachers have made and posted on the web. The beauty of this site is that it allows students to communicate with others who are on the other side of the world with very different perspectives. One of my favorite lessons was one on Holidays. This allows students to see a holiday from another countries point of view, not just to read about it in a text book. Another one I liked was a project on habitats which allowed students to talk to people from another country about what their habitat was and how that influenced them. I will definitely use this program in my class.
                                             

E Books

Creating online books can be used for any different topic, from Eating Healthy to personal biographies, to information about presidents. This allows a quick and fun new way for students to participate in learning! My book would be for the students to create after we did a lesson on eating healthy. The purpose would be for the students to create a book they could share with their parents, someone younger than themselves, or a friend to share what they learned about eating healthy. The book should include a tip about how to eat healthy, why you would want to eat healthy, and some examples of healthy foods.

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling is a great way to get students involved in creating their own masterpiece about whatever topic you are working on. According to an article by Learning Initiative, for students "The deeper impact [of Digital Storytelling] comes from their thinking critically about effective combinations among audio and visual elements". This provides a way for students to create a work of their own which they can personalize, expand on, and truly be proud of. Digital Storytelling is so great because it has the benefit of "including an effective integration of technology with learning, an emotional connection to content, and increasing ease of sharing content". Students can connect with this project on many levels, whether they are talking about their passions, World War II, or Shakespeare!

                                   
  by  Emily Carlin 

Fakebook

One cool tool which popped up on my twitter was to create a Fakebook page for historical figures where students can add pics, timelines, and info about a person without acutally being attached to Facebook. The kids will love the format and can add friends, comments, videos, and pictures. Also, you can save it to look at it later or link it to a blog.

Twitter

    I had no idea that Twitter could be used effectively in the classroom, but now that I am reading about it I see a number of different ways where it could be helpful to have and to use. One idea I had about using Twitter came from the article 28 Creative Ways Teachers are Using Twitter which talked about posting in real time and emphasizing the character limit. My plan would be to have students write summaries about something they are learning. Because there is a character limit on the posts, students need to learn what is truly important to say about a piece they read. Also, this allows the class to look at the conglomeration of everyone's summaries, compare them, and see what works well about different peoples reactions. Since students are more comfortable communicating through text than through voice many times, it is wise of teachers to use this to their advantage by using resources similar to Twitter.
     Another good idea came from the Educational Twitter Chats Calendar article. This idea was more geared towards teachers personally, but it talked about participating in real time chats with other teachers about technology and education in order to expand skills and share teaching ideas.

Don Quijote

Don Quijote is an active facebook group which links teacher to techniques for teaching and students to Spanish speakers in a setting they are familiar with! Students will be shocked when their homework assignment is to go and like a facebook page and look at it frequently, but it offers great resources such as a Spanish word of the day, updated Spanish cultural articles, and many other practical links to Spanish learning!

A teacher is a bridge!

       Teachers today are not expected to be the source of all knowledge, they should simply be a bridge to help children access the information and skills they need. Most students know that with an internet connection and ten seconds, they could have the answer to any question in the world. Good teachers will use this as tool for themselves and the children. As Siemens stated in his article, "realizing that complete knowledge cannot exist in the mind of one person requires a different approach to creating an overview of the situation. Diverse teams of varying viewpoints are a critical structure for completely exploring ideas". Rather than getting irritated at the child for not coming to them for the answers, a good teacher will be happy that the child is becoming self-sufficient. This requires the teacher to encourage children with all different talents to reach out in different areas and be successful. 

        One skill which is crucial for teachers to help bridge students to success in is the area of communication and networking. Modeling good networking and giving explicit directions on how to communicate well and network are important for students learning. As Siemens stated in his video The Impact of Social Software on Learning, "our learning is one of forming connections" and then to use these connections to "stay current and learn from one another". Teachers have the opportunity to show networking by joint teaching in subjects or units where other teachers have great resources or knowledge. When students see teachers collaborating in many aspects, they will see that they do not need to be expert at everything, but rather they should use the resources and people they have around them. Teachers can show students how to collaborate and communicate with people across the world! Through modeling, specific instruction, and the willingness to admit a lack of knowledge and work at finding a solution, teachers can be a bridge for students into collaborative lifelong learning.

  

My comment on Language Learning

This is such a fun way to get students involved in learning a language and for me as well! Its a conversational tool using native speakers who each speak their language for five minutes. Theres no pressure because you can just hang up if you feel uncomfortable and it splits up the language equally..so fun!

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2011/09/post.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LearningTheLanguage+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Learning+the+Language%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I watched the video Pay Attention which addressed the fact that each of our students is a digital learner in addition to the fact that they may be kinesthetic, visual, auditory, or a number of other types of learners. This video pointed out that there is a wealth of resources available to teachers which students are already familiar with, comfortable with, and enjoy.
One statistic which shocked me is the number of students who graduated from high school who think that their school work is something they will never use again in the course of their lives. As teachers it seems that we are doing a poor job of relating students learning to actual life and having them truly connect with what they are doing. Lee Rainie points out that "Teens were born into a digital world where they expect to be able to create, consume, remix, and share material with each other" (Lee Rainie) . We need to allow them opportunities to connect learning to their lives and to interact with material in a way which gives them ownership of it.
Combating the idea that students should simply listen to lectures and spit back answers it is important for teachers to use the materials available which students are already using. This trend of technology use is only growing for future generations, as The Kaiser Family Foundation points out that "in any given day, 68% of children under two will use a screen media, for an average of just over two hours" (Kaiser Family Foundation). Incorporating blogging, webcams, interactive portfolios, online collaberation, webquests, virtual manipulatives, and virtual tours will make the difference in students level of interest in the material you provide to them.