Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Personal Learning Networks

PLNs will help students while their in grade school and college. Students can have a number of resources that will help them with their education and career choice. My PLN is still pretty small ,but after a few years I hope to be following other educators' blogs and podcast. If students start their PLNs early then when their in college it will be much larger and very useful to them. I'm going to give my students an opportunity to make their PLN the best.
Google Presentations

I will use this to help with my teaching. I one of those people that have to see it to remember it. Power Points allow students who aren't the best auditory learners to keep up with their notes and learn the material. In my U.S. history class, my teacher put pictures on a power point of WWII which really made the information easier to remember. This will be a great way for me as a teacher to keep on task with my lectures.
Time Toast Timeline

This project will be great for history classes. Students can create a time line of important dates in history. This will help them remember key dates for test. It makes learning more hands on for the students. Time toast is actually a fun tool to use.
Podcasts

This tool will challenge students to use audacity and learn how to upload their podcast to the web. Podcast are great for students who get nervous speaking in class. I felt more relaxed doing a podcast then doing a speech in class. A podcast would make students feel more comfortable about their speaking abilities. In the future, I am going to record lectures and post them to itunes so students may listen to them when needed.

Incorporation of Blogging in the Classroom

In EDM 310, blogging is something you get very familiar with during the semester. This is one tool I plan on using when I am a teacher. Dr. Strange would give us a video or a topic and then we would write a blog about it. This required me to listen to the videos and read the topics. I'm not the best writer, but doing these blogs every week definitely helped me improve my writing skills.