Aggregator vs. Aggrevator

The idea of "Really Simple Syndication" is one that blew my mind as I began reading through chapter 5 in Richardson. I immediately thought of my own classroom and teaching practices and how much easier it would be for me to be able to visit an RSS feed pertaining to oral language development and phonemic awareness ideas and activities for the preschool classroom. I am constantly searching the internet, all different  sites for new ideas and games. If I were able to visit one site or feed that had the capability of collecting all new information from those different sites and held them all in one spot, my life would be a whole lot easier. All with the help of an "aggregator." Who would have thought?!. I also found information on RSS on another website that may be useful in providing more information to viewers.

Benefits of Kidblog

The article brought up a few very good points, I may not have considered had it not been for reading it. Sometimes all it takes is one time reading about something to have a new perspective. I thought nothing about the fact that when students blog they are being given the opportunity to share ideas with new people, sometimes those outside of their own class, sometimes with other children across the world. In what other setting may they be given this opportunity if it weren't for teachers incorporating technology into the classroom through various ways. After reading this article, I went on to search for kid friendly blogging sites and came across one which we have actually talked about and used in class with 7th and 8th grade students.When I came across this, I knew just how safe and kid friendly this site is and how easy to use it is.

Animoto

After following the link to someone's animoto, I saw the way it can be used to benefit both teachers and students. This particular teacher used her animoto account to introduce key vocabulary words to her second grade class. She was preparing to teach a unit on the community and community workers and decided to use an animoto as a way to introduce her children. http://saraeduc584.blogspot.com/search/label/Animoto

"Start Small"

The idea of blogging was one that was foreign to me up until taking this class. I was relieved while reading Chapter 3 in which Richardson encourages starting small, which I most certainly have. Week by week as I begin to learn more about blogging, each post seems to be a bit easier. One of the coolest things about blogging is the ability to link to other blogs as well as add pictures to one's post. The chapter went on to talk about blogging with students which does seem like a bit much but I have to remember I teach preschoolers. After seeing the blogs posted by 7th and 8th graders I realized how far technology has come in recent years.

Snow Day Tomorrow Question Mark?

Will tomorrow be a snow day or will it? The weather now is showing that it is in fact a possibility.

New Literacies, NETS for students, NETS for teachers

New Literacies allow us to identify important questions, navigate complex information to locate appropriate information, critically evaluate information, synthesize it to address questions and then communicate the answers to others. All of these compiled together help us to better gather and understand new information and then take that new information a step further by sharing it with others. The NETS for students are standards for evaluating skills and knowledge students need to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly global and digital world.  The NETS for teacher standards are standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge educators need to teach, work, and learn in an increasingly connected global and digital society. In order to achieve these, students need to be able to use technology to analyze, learn and explore. These skills are crucial in today's world while not only being an expectation of those entering the working world but also being a requirement. In the same token, teachers must be up on the newest technology as well. This is in an effort to provide their students with the newest information while also staying up to date on new things themselves. Teachers must also have the ability of sharing new information with colleagues and other workers. Professional development for teachers would be one way to ensure knowledge and new learning for teachers who could then bring it back to develop in their own classrooms.

Thoughts on Reading

After reading chapters 1 and 2 in our book, I was faced with some thoughts I had never considered before on the topic of blogging. The first being, using blogs as a resource. The book stated that if anyone with internet connection can now get online and start blogging about any topic he or she may want to, how credible may each source be? As I began thinking about this I realized, blogging is often heavily based on opinions and if that is the case how can blogs be used as a resource. I also came to terms with the benefits of using a blog as a classroom teacher. It is a great way to reflect on one's teaching practices as well as the practice's of others. It's nice to have a place with things written down to be able to go back and revisit one's thoughts.

First Blog

This is my first time creating a blog and blogging here in class.