I plan to use some of the tools that we dabbled with in this course. I do not want to be too overwhelmed so I am thinking that if I can do 2-3 of these that would be a great start. I plan to use Twitter as a reading / culture choice for students. I love that it is really current and up to the minute. I worry that it may not appeal to all students, so I am thinking that I need to have other options available as not all parents may approve of its use. I also plan to use quizlet. This is easy to create and I have already started with a vocabulary list for the first unit that I do, so I think that I will continue with the rest of the units. It doesn't take too much time and some students can really benefit from the extra practice. I also want to use one of the data-gathering options - probably google since each student has an account already.
I am not overly comfortable with any of these so it will be a stretch to add it to my toolbox. I do feel that adding a few of these will help me stay fresh and force me to look at alternate ways to gather data and feedback from students. Sometimes I get frustrated all of the technology, especially when it does not work - but it is worth it to try as many different ways to reach students.
I hope to have a chance to look at some of the options that I skipped over. Lots of them looked interesting.
Laura I think picking 2-3 is key in getting student buy in. One thing I will mention about twitter is I have heard lots of students are hesitant about using it because they do not want their teachers knowing their twitter handle (that amusing name you have to make for your self.) With this said I would encourage students to make a "professional" twitter account they can use to interact with you. Then they do not have to worry about you seeing their tweets about their weekends.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Justin and I think Twitter will be a great asset to your classroom. Google Forms is very simple to use once you get the hang of it and is a very powerful and useful tool! Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteLaura, 2-3 to start is a dynamite plan. Just think of how far you've come these last two months! Would you ever have guessed that you'd have a working knowledge of so many new tools? And don't worry about not feeling completely comfortable yet. You were very brave to dive right in and I think you know more than you are giving yourself credit for ;)
ReplyDeleteI've had great success with quizlet at the elementary level. I strongly recommend it. It's easy to set up and the kids really benefit from it if they use it. Good choice.
ReplyDeleteI am very lucky to have you as a colleague Laura. You do so many neat things in your classroom and you are always giving me ideas and encouraging me to try new things. I might never have tried the Smart response system if you hadn't gotten me going on it and now I love it. So too with a lot of these tech tools. I know you'll be challenging me to actually use them. Let's stay in touch about how we do that throughout the year.
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