A Global Community

    Ever think the world wide web is just too dangerous or risky for your classroom?   We all have!  But ePals is a great site that can change your mind in an instant.  It offers many different features and ideas for your classroom and is great for teachers or students. 

     For students, there are links to other pages, such as National Geographic or the Smithsonian.  These are great educational tools for students to have at their fingertips!  Furthermore, there are pages about black history, digital storytelling, the Earth, and biodiversity.  There is also a student forum to talk about issues they are interested in and a book club where students can talk about the books they have read.

     The teacher page has some similar features to the student page, such as the link to National Geographic or other educational sites.  In addition there is a teacher forum (like the student forum) for teachers to discuss topics of interest to them.  Also, there are pre-made projects that teachers can use for their classes. 

     I think this program could be very useful for a classroom, in that it give the students some freedome to explore different topics but in a safe and educational environment.  Also, the projects available to teachers are a great source and would be fun and interesting for students to do!

Twitter in Action

      There are so many ways that Twitter, a popular micro blogging website, can be useful for teachers.  I'll give a few examples of its use here just to get you started on this potential educational resource. 

    

     An article titled, On the Deeper Connections Built Into Throw-Away Questions, by Shelly Blake-Plock, discusses one of these great uses of Twitter.  It talks about what as teachers we may call a "throw-away" question and how one of these seemingly pointless questions can spark a great debate among students through the use of Twitter.  By posting one of these questions, such as: "Latin Students: How many museums can you find on Twitter? +10 pt coupon to anybody who Tweets 20 museums with collections in Ancient Art!", a teacher can really motivate their students to start thinking out of the box and using a site like Twitter as a resource (Blake-Plock).  The next day so many students will come into school with a list of museums to get their bonus points and for once they will (not admittedly) like doing their homework cause students enjoy the use of social networking sites.

    

     In Educational Twitter Chats Calendar, the author writes about using Twitter for educational chats.  These are basically a way to connect with other educators who are interested in the same topics as you.  For example, if you want to know about using Twitter to teach Spanish, there may be a chat specifically about that.  So you would go on the chat and be able to discuss the topic with other teachers and get new ideas about how you would use Twitter for a Spanish classroom.  The article also mentions a new calendar feature that can make it easier for teachers to keep track of all of their educational chats on Twitter.

     These are just two basic uses of Twitter but there are so many other ways that Twitter can be used to enhance and improve any classroom!

Social Networking Group: Learning with Computers

     There are many social networking groups available for teachers, but the one I checked out was called Learning with Computers.  This groups site is a place for foreign language teachers to post what they know about integrating computers into the classroom.  Teachers can then read each others' ideas about how to best use computers in teaching students a foreign language.  This seems like a great place for L2 teachers to post and take knowledge from each other about technology to make the classroom a better place for learning.

Use Technology to Teach

     I just had the chance to view a youtube video about paying attention to your students.  The video gives some statistics that may shock teachers.  The average college graduate has spent over 10,000 hours playing video games, 10,000 hours using a cell phone, and 20,000 hours watching television. 
     But what do teachers do in school? We do not allow cell phones, iPods, or other technological advances in our classrooms.  This is a mistake.  Instead of banning technology, we should let students use it to create in the classroom.  Technology can be used to write, research, and learn about many different topics. 
     I know it seems surprising and possibly detrimental but the use of cell phones in the classroom may be the future of teaching.  I have already heard of schools that use cell phones in some advanced classes as sort of clickers for students to buzz into their answers.  This saves the school money on buying clickers and gets the students interested in the class because they can use their cell phones (for an education reason, of course).  This has to be done with great effort though in order to prevent students from using their phones for texting or other uses.
     In my student teaching experiences, many students asked me if they could listen to their iPods while working and as much as I know this may have helped them I had to say no due to the school's policy on iPod use.  Personally, listening to music helps me relax and do my work, so why can't my students do the same thing?  There is no good answer to this.  If the students are working and learning then let them use their technology as a tool, not as a hinderance.

Summing up, technology such as the internet, phones, and iPods need to be used in the classroom instead of prohibited, as they can greatly help students learn while not being a distraction!