Technology in the future

I see technology playing a big part in education in the next five years. As of right now most classrooms use some sort of technology ranging from a computer to i pads. In the next five years, I predict that every classroom is going to have a computer of some kind, i pad or laptop. I also see more and more assignments becoming digital. I see technology and education going hand in hand, until you won't be bale to see the line between technology and education. Technology is changing education a lot. More and more assignments are digital. Most if not all books are online, and you can take classes online without having to leave your house. Technology is speeding up education to where lessons and assignments that took weeks, take days. With every new update to technology, education is being updated as well. With education changing, teachers are able to reach students different ways. They can use websites, blogs, email, twitter, podcasts even text messages, by having alerts synced with their cell phones. Here is an audio boo that I have created that talks about how I will the smart board in my classroom:

listen to ‘Smart board’ on Audioboo

Graphic Organizers

Inspiration and kidspiration are two graphic organizers tools that teachers, students or anyone can use to make a graphic organizer. A graphic organizer is a outline of information using texts and/or graphics. Most common are Venn diagrams, Webs, and flow charts. Inspiration can be used in the classroom as a way to keep track and organize thoughts, ideas, links and definitions of topics. Like keeping track of characters, settings and plot of a story. Inspiration is a great tool, because it allows people to spruce up their organizer with color, effects and graphics to make them interesting and not boring. One of the biggest advantage for using this in the classroom is to take a large amount of information and condense it to a small organizer that is student friendly. Using this in class will help students take notes and keep them engaged and on track. I used inspiration 9 recently. It was a fun and easy to use. And the best part is you can easily convert your organizer to a word document to share with others. My topic was verb tenses. I covered the past, present and furture tenses for verbs and gave examples. Enjoy...

Podcasting in Education

 Podcasting in education is a great tool to help students learn about topics on the go. The students or teacher can subscribe to education podcast to learn about a topic, like reading stories, learning math tips or learning another language. Teachers can give the students a list of podcast that they can listen to at home to help them with the information they are learning about in class. Teachers can also use podcasts to connect to other teachers and get ideas from them. I believe that there is no disadvantages to using a podcast as long as it is pre-screened for children appropriate topics.

One example of a good educational podcast that students can listen to is Math Dude. Math Dude goes over math topics in a way to help people better understand and use math. I recently listened to 33, Two tips to help you add quickly. My summary of the post is below:

listen to ‘Math Dude’ on Audioboo

Digital Storytelling

Ive recently been introduced to a website called Photo Peach. Photo Peach allows people to create picture slide shows much like power point, but for free. I think Photo Peach or digital storytelling is a good way to teach students about topics in a fun and interactive way. Teachers can the slide show to tell about topics with pictures and at the end of the slide, you can create a little quiz to test the students on what they learned. Students can also use digital storytelling, i.e. Photo Peach, as a way to show the class and teacher what they learned. They can use it as a research project. When I become a teacher, I will definitely use digital storytelling in my class. I created a slide show on Photo Peach. Its about the seven continents.Here is a link.

Twitter

I personally believe there is no place for twitter in education. I think only harm can come from teachers having it. Students and parents don't need to know what their teacher is doing all day. If the teacher wants to share something about what is happening in the classroom, then blog about it or email it. Don't tweet. Twitter is supposed to be for entertainment purposes, not educational. Twitter is a social network and it needs to be keep away from schools. I know some people feel that Twitter is a way for teachers to reach students, but I feel blogging or emailing about reminders works just as well. And you don't have to worry about students hash tagging you in something inappropriate. So just say no to Twitter.

RSS Feeds/ Blog

One of the helpful sites that I found was The Open Classroom. This is a blog from teacher Jo Mcleay.  In Her blog she posts about any new and interesting topics/ helpful ideas that deal with teaching and technology. She also posts about new projects she does in her own classroom and whether or not they have successful. As I become a teacher, looking at other teachers blogs, will be helpful because it could give me project ideas and keep me up to date with new technology. The open classroom is a great blog that I recommend.


One RSS Feed that I found was the U.S. Department of Education. The feed is from the U.S. D of E's website. The website itself has information about education news, policy, research and funding. Having this RSS feed will be helpful in the future by keeping me up to date with Education news and polices. If anything ever changes in the education world, I will be able to see instantly. I highly recommend this RSS feed.

Teaching in the 21st Century

What does it mean to be a teacher in the 21st century? To me, being a teacher in the 21st century means that you not only need to be well informed in the subject that you teach, but be also well informed with technology. To be a teacher in the 21st century, you need to be able to adapt to changes. Today students are constantly using technology in there daily life, and as a teacher, you should too. As a teacher you need to be able to use technology to show students that what they learn in schools will matter into the "real" world. You also need to know when technology can be harmful to the classroom. As a teacher in the 21st century, you need to be able to handle students who try to misuse technology in the classroom, like texting in class or facebooking in class. Being a teacher in the 21st century means that you not only have to be "book" smart, but you also must be "tech" smart.