2.0 tools in English classroom

BG#1_20091011_2.0_tools_in_classroom

Technology can get crazy because there is so much of it, and it is ever-expanding. Although I love the social bookmarking and sharing, I think that for a teacher just beginning to really integrate technology into a classroom that some of the basics are the best. Get those mastered, really understand and know what the terminologies are, and then move onto more sophisticated and novel applications. I would choose as my three applications: blogging, podcasting, and igoogle. All of these applications can be used with any browser on any system--PC or Mac. Therefore, it cuts across the technology divide in that is present in the classroom.

Blogging:

Blogging can be tailored with Blogspot.com to include groups that are private and can be monitored pretty easily by the teacher. That said, there are quite a few new blog sites out that are designed strictly for educational blogging such as those on http://techlearning.com/blog/.

But as a beginner, I'm willing to stick to the blog selected for us in this course. I will apply this in the following way in my classroom:

1. Students will go from journaling/written responses to literature in their composition books to journaling online. They will be required to post to other students blog systematically.

2. Students will have an opportunity to blog a topic they would like to research with another student from another classroom (or country).

3. As students learn more 2.0 tools, they will be allowed to embed media assets in their blogs.

Podcasting:

1. There are so many apps available for podcasting that I think a whole semester in just about any content area could be taught with just this tool. Again starting with the basics, I would start with the history of radio and relate what radio used to do to what podcasting does now.

2. Using available apps, students can set up a podcast as an audio file first, with assessments ranging from practicing fluency to actually acting out a story on line ( old radio).

3. Students would create in group a podcast showing learning by creating tutorials and/or discussions around books they've read.

4. Students can learn to create video podcasting using the above criteria once they have mastered audio podcasting.

5. Students will learn how to use other web 2.0 tools, RSS feeds and readers as part of the final process.

iGoogle:

With such a suite of applications, this one is hard to ignore. Students would be able to use the igoogle email account, web site and gadgets from the beginning of the school year.

Learning would be:

1. Personal web pages, management, self-reliance, ownership, 21st century learning skills that students can use across content areas.

2. Ability to post to multiple sites such as Facebook which interacts with many more sites; sites to add in igoogle feel close to infinite.

3. Ability to establish a Personal Learning Environment and further explore web 2.0.