BlogsElectronic white boards/smart

boardsGoogle Notebooks

Blogging may seem like something small or something that would provide little help in the classroom but it reality it’s a big hit in classrooms! Blogs are basically considered online journals that can used to comment on recent news articles, rant about different subjects and to post what you know on the internet. According to Lorrie Jackson’s article Blogs can be quite effective in the classroom. Blogs give kids a chance to write something for the public. As the author puts it more than the teacher sees the students writing and more than the teacher can comment/tip the kids on their writing. An example of a teacher actually using blogs in the classroom can be found in Mamaroneck Avenue School in Mamaroneck, New York. In Mr. Burnes 4th grade classroom he created an blog so his students can comment on recent news stories. Jackson, Lorrie. "Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!" Education World. 13 Apr. 2005. 15 Nov. 2008 <http://http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml>.

*As much as blogs are praised in this article there is a word of caution to this classroom tool. Safety. This article stresses the importance of creating a safe blog or getting onto a safe website for blogging. The author of this article recommends that you check with the school to see what kind of restrictions and regulations you would need to follow to set up a safe, secure blog for your classroom.

And some great example of safe online blogs are:KidzBlog-a simple secure blog, can be downloaded with Windows and Mac OS X. This website allows password protection that allows the teacher to see what kids have drawn and written before its actually posted This is a fun blog that the kids can customize themselves. Blogmeister-is a free blog, no downloading of any software, site that allows the teacher to review a students work before it is posted. Thingamablog-is a blog that needs to be run through a web site hosted on a school or a district or a third party website.

I was very impressed by what could be done with blogs and how safe they could be for students along with their teachers. I like the fact that there are different blogs that have a teacher review everything before I student can post it on another's blog. This will help cut down on cyber bullying a lot! That’s something a lot of teachers I’m sure with blogs have trouble with. I was also impressed at the number of blog sites there were. I liked that every blog was different , and not every blog site you had to download new software on to your computer. I feel I could use this is in my classroom. I could set it up through the schools website and each week have a little something the kids could write about. As the article said it could give them more confidence in their writing and practice makes perfect, so the more they are writing the better their writing will become. And other students can comment on their writing to possibly help them improve their writing! This is great, the kids can learn from each other as well as the technology!

Electronic white board also known as smart boards or Mimio boards are a great new interactive tool for not only teachers but students as well. Smart boards look like regular white boards except with the touch of your finger or electronic “marker” allows anyone to interact on the screen. Whether that be doodles or brainstorming ideas for projects. This article reports that more children become more engaged in learning with the Smart Board. One School reports that “Administrators report greater student participation, interest, and excitement in the curriculum.”(speaking of electronic whiteboards) An example of a teacher using the Smart board would be Pamela Solvie she used this new technology and was surprised to find how engaged her students became. She also noticed how when students were in small groups and could manipulate the board by themselves the students learned more.

Jackson, Lorrie. "Speaking of Electronic Whiteboards…." Education World. 01 Dec. 2004. 16 Nov. 2008 <http://http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech206.shtml>.

As great as a tool as these White or Smart boards may seem they do have some disadvantages to them. These boards are not very helpful for children with disabilities. According to the article children with visual disabilities either cannot or have great difficulty reading the screen. Also students with motor disabilities may not be able to operate the white board Another disadvantage to this new technology is the price tag attracted to it. A model can cost $250 but most cost much more. Most of this technology requires a projector and a computer but some, the more expensive kind, come with a projector and computer. Either way you will be spending some money on this new technology. However as high as the price can be Mimio and Smarttech have grant programs that could help you bring this technology into your school and classroom.

I really want this technology in my classroom! This looks like a great technology tool that could really help to get the kids engaged! I remember playing with one of these when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I remember we were allowed to doodle with different electronic markers, play chess or if we wanted we could go online and look up topics we wanted to research. The white board made it easy to manipulate. All you had to do was use one of the electronic markers or touch the screen and you could do anything! It was so much fun to play with! I hope that someday if I can get the money or get a grant that I could possibly get this new technology in my classroom.

Another great technology I researched was Google Notebooks. This article talks about how to set up a Google notebook and the reasons why you should use this technology. So before being able to set up a Google notebook you first need to sign up for an account, which is free, and then download the browser extension. Google notebook according to this article is great for taking notes from a particular website. You can share this information, keep it private or only share it with specific people. All you need to do to select the information you want in your Google notebook is highlight the information and depending upon whether you have a Mac or windows you either control click (for the Mac) or right-click (for windows). This saves your information online but only you and who you chose can see it. The Google notebook allows you to insert additional notes.

Fryer, Wesley. "Online Research with Google Notebook." INTERGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM. 15 Nov. 2008 <http://www.wtvi.com/teks/06_07_articles/google-notebook.html>.

According to this article and what I have done using this new technology Google notebooks can save you a lot of time!This website allows you to save information that is always accessible to you no matter what computer you are on. You don’t have to worry about transferring files from computer to computer. A great advantage of this website is how easy it is to you. Just a few simple clicks and you have a good portion of the notes you would need for research on a particular topic. Pictures can even be added to your Google notebook. This can help for projects in which pictures are needed. The website you got your pictures and information from is automatically saved when you highlight the information then put it in your Google notebook.

This would be a great tool to use in the classroom for older grades when doing research for presentations.

What I would have done for this kind of thing when I was doing projects in the 4th grade and older grades. This would have been great when I was researching different topics.As a teacher I would not have to worry about making sure all the kids have a disk, or a jump drive or something of that nature to make sure all their information is saved. The kids would not have to worry about information not transferring from computer to computer.This could also be a great back up file in case anything on someone's computer got deleted or lost. This could be especially helpful for teachers so they have resources, pictures and websites saved that they could use in class or share with other teachers. Then those teachers could comment and share more with you, and potentially help you do new things with the kids in your classroom! This could do wonders in all classrooms!

I even created my own Google Notebook!

~These are just three example of technology that could be used in the classroom. I will definitely, if I get the chance to, will use these technologies in my classroom! And who knows, maybe the more I research the more I can get technology integrated into my classroom!