I have been reading more about technology in the classroom. I just read an article on ASCD about interactive white boards. The determination is that the effectiveness of the use of the white board depends entirely on the teacher who is using it. Isn't that what all of education about--the teacher. How do the interact with students, how do they build the learning environment, how do they deal with the stresses of the job? It is in the teacher. We have the Promethian boards in all of our academic classrooms. Some folks jumped in quickly. Most of our English teachers use them like overheads, but in a good way. They use them to analyze literature, comment on student writing, things like that. I have never taught with one, so I am not fluent with the tool. We have a district person who guides our learning with the tool. I hope to get her to do regular one-hour staff developments on the tool. Then we could try it and come back for more. I like bite-sized pieces of learning.
I have been working on sophia.org. It is very interesting. Educators need to go on to create material and to review what is there. We have had discussion around our students creating lessons and tutorials. This is the perfect venue for them. My computer did struggle with it--kept freezing up. It seems like it is in its infancy. This is a place we need to put some effort into helping to grow.
I found a great blogger--budteacher.com/blog He is very interesting. Today's topic was on bribing kids. Alphie Kohn would be proud. I also watched a video where he talked about building learning communities. I am following him!
I tried to do google reader but don't have that figured out. My husband is about to stop by. He is my constant help with technology. I hope that I can master that tool so that I can keep up with all of my new resources.
I am feeling better today--working on mastering one resource at a time! Your suggestions on the next resource are highly welcome.
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