Blogging Through Classroom Technology

I guess I would define myself as a digital native. I grew up throughout a time where technology was advancing quickly and I believe I was one of the first classrooms that had new technology. As a teacher, I think I am more advanced with technology than others but I do still struggle with some new classroom technologies. This can be frustrating for me since I have not had proper training on most of the technologies in my classroom. Being younger and used to technology, I can struggle through learning it on my own, but it tends to be a tedious task. I also tend to be frustrated with the limitations that schools put on the technology we use. We are spending money to update our classrooms but with the limitations we tend to still be behind the times. " I believe, in fact, that what teachers need to do is best described not as "changing," but rather as "adapting" to the new context and environment we all find ourselves in... Yet even as teachers become motivated t...

I have never used Twitter so it was a bit scary using it for a graded assignment. Because I have had no experience with Twitter, I decided to sign up quickly and learn a bit about it before the Twitter chat. I logged onto the Twitter chat on both my phone and my computer so I could see what it looked like from each location. I found that it was easier to keep up using the computer because I could type faster. The Twitter chat was stressful at first but very informative! I think it’s one of those thing that you take what you want and leave what you don’t. It’s impossible to keep up with each person’s response while also typing your own thoughts. After participating in a few rounds of questions I found it easier to just read and keep up that way. It’s nice to be a part of the discussion but I think I was overwhelmed for my first time chatting. Twitter chat could be a great on your own Professional Development. Chatting with other experts around the world expands your thinking and r...

Twitter chats are a great way to get teachers talking. It’s almost like sitting in a meeting with other professionals but gives you the option to look things up at your own pace and even sit in your sweatpants! I think this could be greatly used for Professional Development because it’s a collaboration of ideas, just like other formats, just online. As the NEA article discusses, some younger teachers need guidance and are more comfortable asking questions online. It gives teachers a way to get information with a quick tweet! It also keeps documentation of the information being passed around, making it easier to re-find information later on down the road. I think having students sign up for an educational Twitter could be a cool way to have discussions because it’s so similar to what they do outside of class but they are able to have a real discussion. They could use hashtags to sort their ideas and follow a string of tweets with the same interests. As mentioned in the Teachhub ...

I just heard of Diigo for the first time, but I have been using Pinterest for a few years now, mostly for hobbies and lately for teaching help. I found one better than the other and I think most will agree with me after comparing some features. Both sites are meant to be an organizational tool for websites. Diigo uses tags to organize websites, while Pinterest uses boards. The up side of tags is that it can be categorized multiple ways vs boards are separated once (unless you post it twice). The sites that are saved on Diigo are just text, Pinterest sites are saved through an image (pins), which can go either way for different people. The text on the saved sites are just like a regular website; text can be highlighted, copied, and pasted. Both of these websites are based on accounts. Using these accounts you can follow others and they can follow you, although I found Diigo confusing to follow. Diigo also has groups, which allows multiple people to share sites together, similar to a sh...