Thing 23.

The amount of information that is readily available to all is just astounding. The information that I have learned in this class, has been amazing. To be honest, I am not sure yet of my plan of attack for this coming school year. I have so many new ideas of ways that I can incorporate technology, I don't even know where to start! Choosing one new technology per unit is going to be my goal. So for each new unit of study, modify a previous assignment, or totally create something new to expose my students to as much technology as I can, and get their feedback on what they like and do not like. In the future I see podcasts, voki's, wiki's, flickr, blogs, the list is just endless.
Spreading the word on all of the amazing technology should not be too difficult. I know within my department at school we do a lot of sharing of ideas. We are constantly bouncing things off of each other, so hopefully others will get on board as well. I have seen a general shift over the past couple of years and I do think that educators are making an effort to keep up with our students ever changing technology needs!
The internet is a great resource and we must make an effort to utilize it to it's fullest potential.

Thing 22

What could be better than doing PD in your PJ's??? I think that online learning is great for continuing education. I was at the MI-Champs conference this summer at the Wayne RESA and they gave us a plethora of online learning options. There are so many that are readily available, and most are free which is a plus. I took a course through Michigan LearnPort and I thought that it was great. It was a very user-friendly site, it is totally self paced so you can move as quickly or slowly as you would like, which is nice, all the while gaining new knowledge and pd hours. And really there is so much for educators to keep up with, there is so much happening with technology and so much for us to share with our students, we have to stay on top of things and online learning is a great way to do that.

Thing 21

The possibilities for video's in the classroom is endless. They can be a great compliment to your curriculum to mix things up a little bit. They can be used to enhance your teaching or for research purposes. I think that they only concern would be that students would look for inappropriate content, but isn't that the issue with anything or everything?
The only negative with videos, and it is not even really a negative, is that there are so many out there to use that it is hard to find the time to do searching!
I am sharing a couple of environmental videos, not only do I enjoy teaching English, I also try to make students aware of their impact on the environment.

Thing 20

I really hope that my students enjoy creating podcasts!! I have thought about a couple of different lesson where I would like them to create their own. For example, after completing an independent novel they could create a podcast focusing on a particular aspect of the novel, characterization, setting, climax, etc. Create the podcast and then post to a class wiki for all to listen!
I would imagine that my students would love listening to podcasts, I am sure that some of them already do on their own time!
A couple I would use in the classroom would be:
Poetry Foundation
Podictionary
One Minute Vocab-Princeton Review
Grammar Girl
On a personal level I would subscribe to podcasts about cooking, design, kids, health, etc. The list is endless!! A couple that I enjoy...
cooking: Jamie Oliver
design:Etsy
knitting:Never Not Knitting
I could go on forever but I will not bore you with all of my wacky hobbies!

Top 5 Ways to Use Podcasts in the Classroom

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Thing 19

Between this online course and the MACUL conference I attended today and yesterday I have listened to a ton of podcasts!!!! One that I really like in particular is the Princeton Review vocab minute. These are quirky, and fun and would be a good starter for my class. I can see myself playing these right after the bell rings, having students pulling out key words, discussing, etc.
I also enjoyed the poetry foundation podcasts, these would be great to link to the school library, or to play one day a week for a couple of minutes to expose our students to more poetry, something that students always seem to find daunting.
On a personal level, I enjoyed listening to the children's stories, what a great thing to save on your ipod and then play in the car! I am the minority and do not have a dvd in my car so I am constantly looking for new ways to entertain my 1 and 4 year old while traveling!
I digress...In my opinion I think that students are going to love creating podcasts. They seem to really "kick things up a notch" when they know they are going to be seen or heard by a public audience. I think that it will be a fairly simple process to lead them to quality sources using itunes. Our kids are so tech savvy these days, that I have found if given adequate time to complete a technology task, most seem to do very well.
I plan to use podcasts in my classroom for book talks, and reports and posting to a class wiki?! I am hoping for the best and am anxious to try them with my kids!

Thing 17

Wiki's seem pretty cool! I can see there many uses when working on group projects. Grouping students together, and letting them work together and make changes together, what a great new way of doing collaborative work! Students seem to feel a little bit more free to open up when they are in front of a computer and so this may help group situations become a little bit more interactive in that they are not afraid to share their ideas.
The wiki seems to be more of a "group" experience opposed to a blog which could still be pretty solitary. The only problem I see with the wiki is students putting up inappropriate material, but that could easily be monitored with careful monitoring of the site, and honestly I rarely find that this is a problem.
I am excited to have started my wiki, and I can't wait to use it this year! I am thinking about book discussions, or group projects corresponding to novels we are reading? Not sure yet....