Lasting Words

Words in a Cloud
By: Samatha Morra

This article is about Samatha's experience with Wordle , a free web based tool that creates word clouds. The Wordle takes text and uses the most common words and places them as the biggest in the cloud. Then the student can change the colors and sizes of the words.

She used this tool with her students and the Declaration of Independence. Her students liked it so much she let them use it on texts of their choice. She said they did other topics that lead to great class discussions. One of which kept the kids until after the bell rang. She also took this tool to a teachers workshop. The teachers used the tool in their classrooms and one said it made a difference on her students' papers.

Wordle is a great tool for discussion starters. Giving the students a way to express themselves without worrying about grammar is a great tool. It also gives the students creativity by allowing them to change the colors depending on the topics. I would use this web tool for a project of mine as well.

Quick Reads

Digital Libraries Shifting the Landscape
By: Glen Bull and Martha Sites

Google is coming out with new digital books. They are working with authors to transfer their work onto the web. These websites provide past and current issues of magazines, journals, newspapers, and fiction and non-fiction books. These books are not only available on computers, but on phones as well, anything that can connect you to the internet and you can have a book on the screen.

There are also digital book readers. You download a book onto a digital pad and you can read it from the screen. They also have a read aloud option that you can listen to instead of read. These books are called Kindle books. The creators of these books have also made devices that will allow the book to be posted on a digital whiteboard. Although these books may seem great they do have some drawbacks, they do take time to download from page to page and are expensive to buy and fix. You can find these books at Google book search on their web page.

I think these books are a great idea. They will lower the use of paper and can give students, teachers, and readers more options while they read. Teachers can use the digital whiteboards to help teach visually. The students can use the read aloud option to help with comprehension and the everyday reader can download a book to their computer while waiting in the airport. What I see as a drawback is that the digital book readers can be expensive and many student wouldn't have the means to buy one, but the Google book search on the internet is a good idea, many students now have access to the internet though school or public libraries and can download a book cheaper then having to buy them. They are quick and easy ways to learn and read.

Facebook for Learning?

Tapping The Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development
by: Christine Greenhow

This article provides information on social networking cites and their contribution to teachers and their students. Social bookmarking sites such as CiteUlike, Dingo, and Delicious are sites that allow teachers to communicate and share scholarly information to other teachers and professionals. Which may provide insight to their own teaching styles and attitudes.

Other websites teacher can use, not only for connecting with other professionals, but with their students as well are sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Teacher can reference their students sites to gain feedback from the days class. Teachers can reflect and These sites provide ways for students to express creativity and gain feedback from their peers. It also helps student by giving them emotional support, giving them a way to vent frustrations, stress, and even satisfaction with themselves or classroom experience.

I think that these social networking sites provide good opportunities for students and teachers to gain respect for each other. It can also give teachers insight to what their students are thinking and if their lessons are working. They can adapt their curriculum accordingly. Websites like Dingo help teachers collaborate their lessons and find new lessons to help foster a more creative environment.

Use what they are Using

Are We There Yet?

Changing Trends in Online Learning and Internet Use

Throughout the years the use of the internet has increased dramatically. In 2006 the U.S. Department of Education Study recorded a 80% increase of public instructional classrooms with internet access. Adolescents between the ages of 12-17 are the largest growing group of internet users. In 2005 there was a study done that determined the average adolescent spent 9 hours on the internet every week. But is this higher usage a better thing? There are things we have not determined about internet usage, like they quality of peoples internet usage,  the differences in participation among diverse groups of learners, and the outcome of learning opportunities available with newer web-based technologies. 

Researchers are trying to answer these questions and they have come up with ideas to benefiting our students learning. By incorporating technologies that students already use, improve the visibility of individual projects so all can see each other's work at any given time, and improve the adult online mentor-facilitators' strategies for motivating seemingly less-engaged students. These techniques will help educators gear students to more of a learning experience on the internet. 

I think that one of the best things a teacher can do is use the internet. As shown in this article the number of students using the internet is  growing, but what are they doing? I think that if you use the same technologies the students are using they will be more likely to use them and understand them and incorporate learning into them. Also, if we bombard the students with many different types of websites to join they will become overwhelmed and confused, less likely to really grasp the concept of the projects. 

Online Learning

Tracking Collaboration

By: Jared Mader and Ben Smith

Using technology to collaborate on school topics. Many times students have questions or comments about their homework and don't have a way of asking when they are at home. Communication tools such as wikis, Google Docs, student e-mail, and chatting all allow for students to interact. Chatting in real time is another way to help students understand the material while at home. By scheduling chats students can converse with each other and with the teacher to reinforce their knowledge. Wiki and Google Docs give the teacher the ability to check the students progress and the time stamps record when the assignments were submitted. Not only do these communication devices allow for increased teacher involvement and discussions with fellow students, but it also provides ways to communicate with other students from other classes, schools and/or countries. 

There are other ways to have our students communicate through technology, texting, but this method doesn't help students develop the appropriate writing skills. Using wikis and wikispaces can also help teacher put up tutorials to help their student with their writing skills.

"By helping our students become more effective communicators, we are helping them grow into global contributors".

I think using these types of communication websites helps our quiet students become more involved in their learning as well. I don't think that all discussions should be handled in this way, but I do believe it is just another way we can encourage our students to grow, especially in this technology growing world.

Technology Tool For Teachers

Tech Integration in Social Studies
By: Mark Hofer and Judi Harris

This article is about integrating technology in the classroom. Hofer and Harris set up a system that allows teachers to pick the type of learning activity they want their students to preform; a project, unit, or a particular lesson, and then use the educational technologies. they provided a website to refer to for assignment suggestions, activitytypes.wmwikis.com. The website has sample activites and techonologies that come along with them. There are 42 available social study activities.

The types of technologies that are provided are using pod casts, using stock market games, using blogs and comic creators. These are all fun and unique ways teachers can incorporate technology into learning and if done correctly the students won't even realize they are learning. These assignments are not only used alone, but can be combined to make projects. Combining the techonoligies allows for more advanced learning.

I think this is a great article because it allows teachers a quick refrence to the different types of techonolgy avaiable out there. It can be hard to look for the newest technology trends and having a website available is a great way to keep informed.

Motivation For The 21st Century

Pamela Livingston ''Chatting it Up Online''

Pamela Livingston author of ''Chatting it Up Online'' is a teacher who is using technology to inspire her students. She used the help of other teachers in her school as well as online resources to bring professionals and her students together. She implemented the ''live chat'', a communication device on the Internet, to motivate her students to lean more. Livingston had a group of boys who were interested in learning more about a certain children's book author. Livingston gathered information from the Internet to set up a date to have the boys interview the author. She did this with a website called classroom.net, the website connects professional and students together though the Internet.

Before the students could have the interview Livingston needed to prepare. She gave many examples from her experience, such as: knowing chatting etiiquette, preparing the room for chat, and having questions prepared. She explained there were some glitches, but overall it was a good experience for the boys and that she would recommend other teachers doing it for their students.

Livingston mentioned in the beginning of her article that she did not want to disappoint her students, so, she waited to tell them the interview was available when she got the verification from the website. I believe that was very important in her teaching method, she wrote about how the ''live chat'' was better for the students because of the instant gratification and how the students had written a letter previously which had taken a lot longer for a response than expected. I believe that keeping those young minds constantly intrigued is the best policy and the letter, while exciting, is not as good at keeping their attention as a ''live chat''.
Which is why i believe being prepared was of the up most importance. One of Livingston's suggestions for being prepared was having the questions ready for the author, the most crucial preparation, in my opinion. The students were actively involved in their learning and they were able to ask the questions they most wanted to know. Which is why I think the chat was so successful.

I would use this leaning tool in my classroom by not only accessing authors of books, but of important people they are leaning about in class. I would also research live video chats if possible. Being prepared would be very important for these conversations because the students could be called upon individually by the interviewee, which could bring about certain behavior issues. Having smaller class sizes would probably be easier to manage in video chat while bigger classrooms could benefit the most from type chat.

net 4 is the L and L standard.