I reread my blog post as well as the blog post of the others in the class. While posting the many comments, I noticed that some of the others in the class were more knowledgeable about technology while others, like myself, are struggling a bit but are still willing to do our best to bring technology into our classrooms. I admit it was somewhat overwhelming taking this class and finding the time to explore these Web 2.0 technologies while also keeping up with the demands of school. I think we can agree that most teachers want to improve their teaching methods and do what is best for our students.
When I began teaching, I knew very little about technology. I guess this kind of gives my age away. I began using it little by little. Now I am comfortable with many applications. I must admit that I learned quite a lot during this class. I did know about and use social bookmarking previously. Although I had signed up for a bloglines account, I had never used it before. Now I feel very comfortable using it. I didn't know about SlideShare, google docs, or had ever read or written a blog before. I will definitely use these Web 2.0 technologies this school year.
After reading about teaching and learning in the 21st century, I realized even more how important it is to keep our students up on the lastest technology. Students of today are digital learners and will be expected to discover, explore,
create, and engage with the outside world. We must use what students are familiar with to teach them. Using cell phones to teach is an interesting concept, but I think many things will need to be worked out first.
Personally, I use technology to email friends and family, mapquest, check on weather, look for recipes, make labels, and store pictures to name just a few.
Professionally, I use emails to communicate with parents, using my delicious account, looking at SlideShare, using the bloglines account, making banners, and looking for and taking classes like this one. Pedagogically, I intend to use ShileShare to show presentations to my students, google docs for group projects, virtual tours, podcast, and webcast. I currently have a wiki which the parents and students visit to get varying information and links. I would like to start blogging with my students also.
What is my "plan of attack"? I plan to begin slowly so as not to become overwhelmed. I will think about how I can use some of these new apps with my students and then introduce them. Currently, there are four teachers from my school taking this class. Since we are a small school, this is about half of our staff. We have already been discussing what we are learning during this class with our principal who seems very interested. I think we will share what we learned and mentor the other teachers so that everyone will be able to use these new technologies. As we let our students work with Web 2.0, I think they will also share with each other.
I still would like to learn more about the other Web 2.0 technologies. Although I already have a wiki, I am sure there are many more things which could be added to it. I plan on taking more professional development during the school year and the summer. Some of my colleagues are more advanced in technology than others, and they are always willing to help each other. I am also going to add colleagues as members of my delicious account, read edubloggers feeds, and ask questions about things I want to learn about. We may invite you back also!
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You have a definite advantage over many who have taken this Things class: people in your building that you can talk to face to face! It is the preferred method of communication for most teachers I know. But how exciting to think that you can begin collaborating with people you know, and to someday be able to expand that to the world at large. And as you and the other teachers become more comfortable using Web 2.0, there will be opportunities to involve your students and even parents.
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