Wow! What a variety of teaching tools avalible to charge into the 21st century! the new technology today is enabling the teacher to break down the walls of the classroom and provide instruction or reflection of learning any time of the day. These technologies give the capability to all students to have a voice in the classroom.
Wiki pages are a great way to track students’ goals, ideas and learning while sharing their ideas with each another. The wiki would be an excellent tool to have students summarize their day. They could also post the nightly homework for all to see if they need to reflect back to the day ‘s activities whether they are absent or not. Wikis can also keep parents aware of what is going on in the classroom and allowing them to participate in their child’s learning.
Utilizing podcasts/vodcasts enables students to create visual presentations on their learning using the technology of today. They can have a voice in explaining their learning by inserting audio files to presentations. They can take pictures of the different aspects of the days. Giving the student the tools and power to investigate with each other will engage the students in teams to learn differently.
Podcasting could be used in math to discuss how to’s for mathematical procedures. This allows the student to hear themselves explain the concepts. It forces them to clarify their ideas and practice essential skills for being successful in the PSSA open-ended questions. These student-made pod casts can serve as a tutor for future students. Ecogeeks is an example of a science podcast to enhance my ecology curriculum.
In order to make the above work, it is necessary for me to have more computer access or computers in my classroom. For whole group instruction and sharing it is important to have a projector for large screen viewing. The tvs in the classroom right now are not effective in instruction because they are too small. A video camera would be ideal to share learning experiences on the wiki pages on line.