Some teachers rely on this website more than others, meaning that some have taken a lot of time to develop and make a great website for their students to use to help them succeed academically, while other teachers have a blank page because they choose to wither use a different source of technology, or none at all to connect with their student throughout the school year.
So I decided to click on my 7th grade math teacher's website. When you first open it, it welcomes all of her students as well as the parents of her students. She then has different tabs for each class period that she teaches, because of the fact that they are learning different topics, or some classes may be ahead of others, or the fact that some are advanced classes and others are not.
After you click on the period your class is, there is another link that takes you to that specific class website, which is actually on Schoolnotes 2.0 The only thing I can see without signing in is the homework log as well as the most recent worksheet that was worked on in class.
You have access to much more if you sign in and are subscribed to the teachers page, such as the ability to contact the teacher, reviews for exams and quizzes, notes, etc.
Below is the link to my teacher's Schoolnotes 2.0 account, but we are only able to view a very small amount of content, as well as a screenshot of the Schoolmates 2.0 homepage.
Teacher page
Professional development terms are used to describe lifelong learning teachers engage in. Life is always changing, and teachers need to adapt to that. Technology has changed this due to the fact that the traditional ways to develop teachers are becoming outdated. Traditional ways to develop teachers are when teachers attended conferences, meetings or classes to further sharpen their skills.
Now, those are still available, however developing teachers is available over online conferences, as well as building networks of teachers over social media. Teachers can bring peers and experts together at the click of a button with blogs, webinar, Diigo and Twitter. Blogs allow teachers to share their experiences of teaching to other teachers, creating a network.
New teachers can learn from these blogs by reading them to prepare for what life is like to become a teacher, as well as get ideas for classroom strategies, such as classroom management or new technologies to use in the classroom. Webinars focus on using software and hardware, such as ISTE webinar. these are free or at a very small fee.
Diigo is a social bookmarking tool to form groups with other teachers to share and comment on articles or blogs, as well as annotate on these resources. Twitter helps teachers follow professionals or educational pages to help them get ideas for their classrooms.
Teachers can also develop really large networks and contact professionals immediately to help them out with daily teaching issues, trying out new strategies, etc. Technology continues to develop allowing education to be refined in a very positive way for all teachers to use.
As a teacher, I plan on being apart of a network of teachers who have blogs, Twitters, Diigos, etc. to help me get through my first few years as a teacher, so I am aware of what to expect and I know how to approach certain scenarios. It would also be very important to me to be able to ask questions to a network of teachers regarding my specific encounters in the classroom that I need help finding the best possible solution to.
As a teacher, there are many technology sources I can use to accomplish my professional responsibilities more efficiently and effectively. One type of source that I will definitely be using are presentation softwares.
These will help me to organize and enhance the delivery of my information when I am teaching a lesson, trying to run an activity, trying to get my students involved and engaged, etc. Presentations have always been effective when I was a student trying to learn material, so therefore I am going to attempt to use the newer types of presentation technology to create fun and engaging presentations for my students.
Presentations will help me organize my materials more efficiently and effectively, also allowing me to make my lesson plans more efficiently and effectively. Another type of technology I can use is word processing. Word processing will allow me to create handouts, rubrics, tables, etc. to help me become organized an get work done at a very fast and effective rate.
Word processing will also help me to create newsletters, permission slips, letters home to parents, etc. at very efficient rates, to make simple tasks not harder than they should be to complete. Both of these tools are great tools that I will also introduce my students to and highly encourage them to use.
The technology sandbox was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So much of the most current up to date technology in one room is absolutely incredible. It just makes your mind spin a mile a minute when you think about which one of those amazing tools would suit my needs as a teacher the best. One that I 100% want to have in my classroom and know that I will have in my classroom is a SmartBoard.
I have been using these ever since I was in middle school, and I know that they still can be amazing tools to use in the classroom. What I didn't know it can do, however, was supply me with thousands of interactive presentations created by other teachers using the most advanced technology. I will totally take advantage of these presentations to help my students experience the most technologically advanced way of learning, while having fun doing it.
SmartBoards are also a great tool to help students review for exams, as well as get shy students involved. Every student loves to come up to the board and fill in the blank or write out the math solution. Another technology from the tech sandbox I will use in my classroom is the 3D printing, pending if I end up becoming a special education teacher.
I can use this printer to create products with braille, or objects that make it easier for students with disabilities to learn and understand concepts. On top of that, if i work with younger students, I will make sure that I create items to help the class learn concepts. If i want to teach younger students numbers, i can create numbers with the 3D printer and have the students play games with them.
The more they are involved and interact with me as the teacher, the more fun than will have and the easier it will be for them to learn. Honestly, I wish as a teacher I will be supplied with a large budget so I can purchase the entire tech sandbox, I would love all of the items in my future classroom!
I really like your Teacher Planet site, but I think it fits more in teacher productivity tools (the topic for this coming week), rather than Web 2.0. I don't see where teachers can post their own lesson plans in a community database.
ReplyDeleteGamification is big right now in education, and huge in my degree program. Simulated worlds are an interesting variation on this topic.
I also just learned that Smart Boards have a hundred more capabilities that I originally thought so I hope to use one in my very own classroom!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the Smart Boards! In middle school I had the opportunity to use them as a student--but I think that with training and more exploration teachers can be much more creative with them than they were at my school.
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