Inspiration/Websites

Now that I know how to use Inspiration, I am inspired! ;) It really is a wonderful program that can be really helpful. It can be a great tool for teachers to organize information or lesson plans in order to present them to the class or for personal organization. Inspiration is also good for students to use for their own benefit. Projects like reports, posters, outlines, research, or vocabulary would be improved by using this program. Inspiration is a wonderful way to organize thoughts and ideas as well as create visual appeal. It is easy to use after some instruction is given, with the quick tricks, a wonderful inspired work can be made!
We have looked at so many great websites, the recent website titled ethemes was very intriguing to me. This website contains a wealth of information and links to great sites. I really like the way that the website is organized. It is easy to find things that are very specific and at a certain grade level. I will definitely be using this website for a lot of my teaching materials. Again, I think this website can be used by students as well, because of the easy searching tool and the quality of the websites and information available.
I am also a big fan of the 4teachers.com website with the rubric and quiz tools that are extremely helpful. There are times when quick and easy is just the best choice. These programs are simple and organize your thoughts for you. These are just two websites that I truly think are helpful.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a tool that I am super excited about! I think as a teacher, a site like Diigo or del.icio.us can be used as wonderful tools for researching or for specific subjects and help with homework or projects. I think as an elementary or high school student, having your teacher give you access to this wealth of information online is really quite generous. There are so many websites that could improve students' learning and development in the classroom. A few ideas that immediately popped into my head were have a section of social bookmarking for your students with a list of websites about proper citation, or how to evaluate a website, or even tips for studying for specific subjects. Students have the opportunity to find these tools online on their own, but they may not take advantage of that opportunity or simply have the technological knowledge to do so. I think it would be a great tool to give students an easy way to improve their learning experience.
As a college student currently, and an aspiring teacher, I am so excited to be able to save the wealth of information that I find online. I often find these wonderful websites and never have a chance to return to them because I didn't write it down or add it to my favorites. This is a great, organized way of collecting my thoughts and have it available all in one spot!
Overall, it is a wonderful way to organize great resources, share your resources and take advantage of other user's collections, as well as use it in your classroom!

Evaluating Websites

Evaluating websites prior to using them in a classroom or in research is extremely important because of the fact that anyone in the world can create a website. There are thousands and thousands of wonderful resources available on the Internet. However, there are quite possibly more websites that are not credible or resourceful at all. As an aspiring teacher, I know that it is one of the most important responsibilities I'll ever have. Students rely on their teachers for a wealth of information and most students, especially in elementary school, will believe anything their teachers say or any resources they are given. False information will be the entrance down a very bad path.
I think that people who are advanced in the world of technology understand that evaluating resources is important. However, there are many "digital immigrants" in our world that don't understand what is actually available on the web. I also believe that many people think about evaluating websites and materials but also brush it off or quickly assume that the website is credible. We like everything to be available to us as quickly as possible, and sometimes no matter what google gives us, we will use it. It is obviously not a hard task to evaluate websites and will save anyone time and effort in the long run.
As for incorporating this into my classroom, I think it is important to give students a reality check. Students need to understand that their five year old sister could create a website on her own, and people could find it through a search engine and use it in their research paper. I love the idea of checklists for students to use when they are researching themselves, or when the class is researching as a group. This lists can be simple at first and eventually contain smaller details for older students. If students can evaluate websites at a young age, they will grow into better researchers when they will truly need this skill.

Elementary Blogging

Technology is a field that opens many opportunities to elementary students. We are now learning and adapting our ways of teaching to incorporate this important part of education.
Blogs can be a wonderful tool for reinforcing information that has started in the classroom.
I have a few siblings that are in elementary school and have participated in classes online in which they have discussions with students all over the country about their weekly topic in class.
This is really exciting for students in the higher elementary grades as well as early high school.
Allowing students to use a tool like a blog can really bring real life into their education and school experience.
I think blogs are wonderful for discussions in english or literature. Teachers can assign a blog topic that has been built upon the discussion that occurred in class that day. Students can take a break from their mundane homework and jump on their computer to voice their opinion with their peers on their blog.
This is a great alternative for live discussion because it is another way for students to comfortably take part in group discussions. Even for myself, as a college student, I am not always comfortable talking in class. However, once I have a blank white computer screen in front of me, I can go on and on!
Blogs simply allow students to voice their knowledge in a different way then their everyday classroom style.
Another way blogs can be effective for education is for homework help. It is easy for students to simply sign on their blog and say, I can't figure out this math word problem! All of their peers, as well as their teachers, can help them in completing the problem. Perhaps the teacher can give a time limit as to when the students can ask questions so he or she can properly answer them at one time each night.
Blogs are definitely a wonderful reinforcement for a variety of ages and I think it is really effective.

Oh hey!!!

This is my first blog everrrrrrr! This is pretty exciting for me. Yay blogs!