2/12/2013
Post 2 of 2
Digital Technology skills are essential in today's classroom and I hope you are using the opportunity while in this class to examine all of the tools that are at your finger tips. This article will provide you with different categories of digital skills.
Please read this article and explore at least one of the technology tools that he has provided in his list. Feel free to explore a category that is of interest to you or your upcoming project.
33 Digital Skills Every 21st Teacher Should Have.
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/the-22-digital-skills-every-21st.html
This is an awesome list to have. I have not finished navigating through each of them but I have definitely checked out a few. In the past I have used some of the resources listed such as Facebook Twitter, Kidblog, Pinterest, Livebinders (recently), and Weebly. I have an electronic portfolio through Weebly on which I have been working on since last semester. I attach a link to my Weebly if anyone wants to check it out. It is still in the works. Some of the links on the Weebly also connect to specific Pinterest boards.
ReplyDeletehttp://break2012.weebly.com/index.html
One of the resources I was able to get familiar with is Jogtheweb. I really, really like this one. It is similar to LiveBinders yet differently. I love that I am able to organize URL's based on topics or subjects. I started creating a Job the web and putting all of the URL's for the different Digital Resource given to us on this article. I have managed to create 3 Jobs - Digital Images in the Classroom, Blogs and Wikis and Social Bookmarking. This will give me a chance to review them all at some point and the Jogs will give me easy access.
I also created a Jog that connects to my weebly in which I put the link to four different Language Arts Lesson Plans.
http://www.jogtheweb.com/run/Pxl57asc1BDe/Language-Arts-Lesson-Plans!
I will say that some of this information becomes overwhelming because there is so many resources available. I like that there are resources available for audio, visual, notetaking, URL's, photo editing. There is something for every student. This is a list I will continue to explore further.
Thanks for sharing.
I was very surprised when I opened this list to see that I have not heard of any of these sights! Being out of the world of education for so long, my experience has been severely limited. After clicking through a few of them, I am really excited to do a thorough exploration of them. Most of my immediate exploration was with the infographic sights. I loved easel.ly, which I found to create the most visually interesting results but it was a bit limiting as far as its themes. I also enjoyed using Gliffy and felt it created very useful visual tools. I even passed a few of these tools onto my boyfriend who runs a soccer camp for use in his lectures both with students and fellow coaches. I will definitely be saving this list and exploring it fully!
ReplyDeleteI clicked on a few of the links and am amazed at how much time I can end up spending just browsing through all the resources. I think cyberbee would be a good introduction about what people are legally allowed to use. I don't think that too many people even think about this when using technology. I could see giving a worksheet that would lead them through the questions and help them to have reactions to the site. One link that I thought might become useful for me was Diigo. I often use the web to find activities or rubrics that have already been shared by other teachers and I could set up an account and access the information from any internet device. This would be helpful so when I am not at my computer or if my laptop happens to die in the middle of class. I think I am going to play around with the site and see if I can make a habit out of using it.
ReplyDeleteLaura
Sometimes I feel like there are so many resources available yet none that I find useful. I have webpages like this one (with lists of technology tools) saved in bookmarks but I feel like when I use them in lessons it is very isolated, like "Today we are going to use technology in the classroom." I was playing around with animoto and movie maker and I made some awesome videos. I like the idea of using these video makers as a visual tool in presentations. I think the kids would have fun putting together pictures and quotes to express their learning, and they would probably be able to create these in half the time it took me.
ReplyDelete..and is it just me or do the "please prove you are not a robot" text required to publish comments get harder and harder every time??
ReplyDeleteThat article provided an eye opening list with so many useful links. I explored options for text messaging parents and thought that this tool would have even served my teaching team well during my experience as a Grade Level Liaison just for communicating among teachers on a team regarding professional information, meetings, schedules, etc. As a parent of young children, I'd love the reminder that "tomorrow is pajama day" etc. I have found that teachers who use a few super digital tools in addition to quick daily e-mails and online newsletters or class wikkis and the like seem to get better results in participation. The tools that allow us as teachers to communicate better with each other, with parents, and with our students can add an exceptional layer of classroom management and communication to our "teaching toolkits". I do wonder how school districts handle policy regarding individual teachers use of the various texting tools (parrot, kikutext etc.) Some of these modes of communication also remind me of the issue of "access" in our digital society. So, if some parents/ students can be reached for last minute reminders via these great texting tools, what back up means of communication would be used for parents/ students who could not be contacted via text and then what does that mean for time commitments of the teacher?
ReplyDeleteI found the Essay Map to be like a new gift I was so happy to unwrap! I love the graphic outline in digital form. I was familiar with the many graphic organizers available online but I had not seen the Essay Map before and thought it could be so useful for students.
I know I will go back to this article again. I think it could really be the foundation for many an "in-service day"!
-Alicia