Blog #5

With technology evolving and the ELA standards enforcing the use of technology in the classroom it is eminent that teachers know and understand how they work.  I think all web 2.0 resources are useful in their own way but all of them bare the risk of student safety.  For example twitter is a great way for students to keep up to date with news and peoples thoughts on national issues; but twitter only provides snippets of information and that can lead to students not having the whole story and misguided views.  Another web 2.0 resources that is very effective in teaching is YouTube. YouTube allows you to go beyond only talking about the subject you are teaching and it allows you to show your students visual representations of the subject matter. Although YouTube is a great teaching tool student safety is also a concern here whether it be misguided information, or inappropriate information for the age group, or sensitive topics. So as a teacher you need to be aware of that and try limit that as much as possible. Both web 2.0 resources I describe do not need peripherals since you can access them off the web.

A web 2.0 tool that I find interesting and that I would use in the classroom would be Diigo. Diigo is not only a great way to get students their own online audience and platform, but it is a great way to get students thinking. Diigo provides blogs for students to be able to develop and portray their ideas in a safe way. Diigo also allows online interaction for peers to give constructive criticism or comment on how great your post was.

Another great way to use Diigo in the classroom is for in class discussion and analysis of research papers or other online material.  Diigo allows you to go through research or reading material and make your own sticky notes, outliners, and allows you to share your thoughts with your peers. Again Diigo serves as great tool to not only see what your students think about the assignment topic but to gauge their level if understanding and knowledge based on their analysis. This provides a great platform for teacher to evaluates students and see who needs help and who us making great use of the technology. If you are interested in how Diigo works and possibly using it click here.

The concept map was a really helpful assignment in terms of organizing ideas. I think this helps for prospective teachers because it helps narrow down your thoughts in an organize matter and be able to reach your main points. I think the most under looked but most useful thing in my opinion is the simplicity of concept maps. It allows you to follow an idea or a topic in fast and effective way and in my opinion that is the best way to engage students.