Tools of the Trade

I had fun exploring some of the web 2.0 tools investigated by my classmates. Thanks classmates, for sharing. Your wiki posts were interesting and well researched.

I enjoyed learning more about social networking. I'm familiar with Facebook and am becoming more so with Twitter this week. Sarah shared information about The Daily Mile and Twiducate. As an educator, I appreciate that Sarah used The Daily Mile to motivate the athletes that she coaches. It reminds me of a curriculum meeting that I attended a few years back at a neighboring school. I remember sitting with a young P.E. teacher who could not understand what was meant by integrating curriculum. The example we were using involved integrating math concepts in gym class, by weighing and measuring, yourself and a distance. This guy did not get it. Sarah you have shared a great tool that I would love to share with him. I have found it motivating for myself as well. Twiducate is a great, school friendly tool to share class activities, etc. with families. I'm considering this tool for next year, rather than a class note.

Collaborative drawing tools are wonderful. I played with dabbleboard, Scriblink, and imaginationcubed. I feel Scriblink was the easiest to share and navigate. I liked the ease of use. The tools have great possibilities for differentiating instruction. The tools make it easy to share brainstorming sessions with those you are collaborating with, as a teacher or a student. Scriblink is a user friendly way to create a class mind map, much easier to use than Inspiration.

I also explored the use of Immersive Environments in schools. I can appreciate the examples given for use in school. I can see the importance and validity in role playing scenarios with the older students involving history, economics, and citizenship. I feel that tools like Whyville and Dizzywood have to be closely monitored by an adult supervisor. They give the sense that video game playing is occurring during the school day. Again, I do see the value of these tools for select students involving real life topics and situations. I do agree that everyone learns differently and we usually learn more when we are enjoying ourselves.