Blogs and wikis are everywhere. Doing a simple search for "educational blogs/wikis" brings up thousands of results. Most of these results are either the same sites, or somehow connect all together. The result is a massive collection of educational resources that are in a way all linked together. It truly is amazing how much information is out there.
There are a few interesting classroom uses for blogs and wikis in the classroom today that I would like to incorporate in my classes. Blogs and wikis as a place for student and teacher reflection is a big one for me. Allowing students the forum to write down their thoughts and feelings about a subject and either recieve feedback from peers or read and comment on other's thoughts seems like such a great tool for learning. After all, learning from your peers is one of the best ways to form true understanding of material. Wikis can also be a great place for teachers to personalize with their students. Wikis allow students and teachers to post photos, homework, ideas, comments, etc. They are basically one giant collection of thoughts and ideas, which is another great way to get to know teacher and student. Blogs and wikis also offer the ability to add gadgets and features that make learning really interactive and fun. This is a great way to keep the students interested in the material and the blog/wiki.
RSS readers and aggregators are another option for teachers to use in the classroom. These are programs that can be downloaded from the web and significantly reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates and news. These provide a consolidated view of news headlines, blog posts, podcasts, etc. These would obviously help students stay up to date with both local and world-wide news, connecting them to the outside world. These would also create a tremendous flow of new daily knowledge for the students. Even if it isn't directly related to the material, they will be learning something new every day that connects to the real world. They might also end up using this technology outside of the classroom for their own interests as well. This is a simple step, but an important one in getting students to involve the classroom with their own lives.
The pros of blogs and wikis are obvious, as you can read from the above paragraphs. However, there could be some drawbacks. For one, all students probably don't have computers at home. This would make it hard to make the entire class web based. Also, there are so many options and so much information out there that it might be overwhelming for teachers to get started with. How do you find exactly what you want?
No matter what, in today's technology driven society, blogs and wikis will continue to emerge as great educational tools for teachers. I personally think they would be great resources in my future classes.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Multiple Intelligences: Thoughts and Reflections
Mutliple Intelligences. . . . . I am hearing this everywhere in my teaching and learning classes. Obviously that must mean it is an important topic that requires some investigation. So I have done a simple MI inventory and discovered my personal preferences, and I want to share my thoughts and reflections on this new information.
I am a very strong visual learner. Visual learners tend to have great spatial awareness, strong imaginations, and visual acuity. In other words, we like to picture and "see" material in our heads before acting. We also enjoy being able to manipulate our environment and understand how to complete a task better after seeing it done. I would therefore like to make my classroom visually stimulating, by decorating the walls and making the classroom a fun place to be. Letting the students move around and interact with the classroom is another objective I now have. Making a conscious effort to use videos, drawings, pictures, and demonstrations to communicate material is also a high priority for me.
My next strongest area would be kinesthetic. Kinesthetic learners are also quite sensory driven. However, they also show good coordination and are tactile (show good motor skills). Expressions are made through the body more often by kinesthetic learners too. Alot of comparisons can be made to visual learners; kinesthetic learners like working with the environment, and prefer hands-on learning activities. These learners will stay focused on a task for extended periods of time too, as they will try to master material that they understand. Integrating this information into the classroom involves providing an abundance of hands-on activities such as physical constructions and demonstrations of the material. Incorporating rhythm and music into learning is another goal of mine to target kinesthetic learners.
My last real strong intelligence would be logical. Therefore, I prefer linear and concrete reasoning. I tend to break down concepts to its specific components and piece it together in a way that flows and makes logical sense. Logical learners also seem to enjoy working on complex tasks, as it stimulates scientific thinking and producing a logical response. Logical learners tend to seek order in everything they observe and do; there has to be reason behind everything. They also reason through problems very scientifically, and enjoy manipulating functions. In order to target the logical thinkers it will be important to present some beginning criteria in order to provide some structure for them to base their work off of. Setting achievable short-term goals will cause these learners to understand why they are working on this because there is an end point that must be reached. Encouraging debate is another way of stimulating the logical learners, as they will be forced to express their thoughts aloud.
Well there you have it! These would be my three strongest intelligences and my relections and thoughts about them. I realize I have only talked about adjusting the classroom for these intelligences, and I want to make sure that I will not only tailor to my intelligences as this would obviously leave other learners out. Instead, I plan on reviewing the information on MI's much more so as to be prepared to teach to all types of learners.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think.
I am a very strong visual learner. Visual learners tend to have great spatial awareness, strong imaginations, and visual acuity. In other words, we like to picture and "see" material in our heads before acting. We also enjoy being able to manipulate our environment and understand how to complete a task better after seeing it done. I would therefore like to make my classroom visually stimulating, by decorating the walls and making the classroom a fun place to be. Letting the students move around and interact with the classroom is another objective I now have. Making a conscious effort to use videos, drawings, pictures, and demonstrations to communicate material is also a high priority for me.
My next strongest area would be kinesthetic. Kinesthetic learners are also quite sensory driven. However, they also show good coordination and are tactile (show good motor skills). Expressions are made through the body more often by kinesthetic learners too. Alot of comparisons can be made to visual learners; kinesthetic learners like working with the environment, and prefer hands-on learning activities. These learners will stay focused on a task for extended periods of time too, as they will try to master material that they understand. Integrating this information into the classroom involves providing an abundance of hands-on activities such as physical constructions and demonstrations of the material. Incorporating rhythm and music into learning is another goal of mine to target kinesthetic learners.
My last real strong intelligence would be logical. Therefore, I prefer linear and concrete reasoning. I tend to break down concepts to its specific components and piece it together in a way that flows and makes logical sense. Logical learners also seem to enjoy working on complex tasks, as it stimulates scientific thinking and producing a logical response. Logical learners tend to seek order in everything they observe and do; there has to be reason behind everything. They also reason through problems very scientifically, and enjoy manipulating functions. In order to target the logical thinkers it will be important to present some beginning criteria in order to provide some structure for them to base their work off of. Setting achievable short-term goals will cause these learners to understand why they are working on this because there is an end point that must be reached. Encouraging debate is another way of stimulating the logical learners, as they will be forced to express their thoughts aloud.
Well there you have it! These would be my three strongest intelligences and my relections and thoughts about them. I realize I have only talked about adjusting the classroom for these intelligences, and I want to make sure that I will not only tailor to my intelligences as this would obviously leave other learners out. Instead, I plan on reviewing the information on MI's much more so as to be prepared to teach to all types of learners.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think.
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