K12learning2.0

I got a lot out of this course. There are so many tools that are available to me as a future teacher, as well as with current internet usage. There are so many I had to make a list of them for future reference when I do get a class of my own. I have to take 2 more SKU hours. If you have any suggestions for 2 SKU’s from KSU, Jerrie, please let me know. I passed the GACE for Social Studies Middle Grades, but any high school Social Studies topic would be fine also.Thank you for all your help in making this class so rewarding for me.
Ernie Volaric

I went into Ning and clicked Social Networking and scrolled down on the right and found the Teacher Education networking category. I then went under Elgg and clicked The Schools United, an interesting site for sharing educational research, ideas and experience with schools from around the world. I also scrolled down the page under Ning and saw a site under Social Studies category called: “I Teach Social Studies”, which was an online community of Social Studies teachers. I was amazed to see the vast number of specialized online networking communities available to join for free. The resources available are enormous because of the collaboration of ideas from teachers from around the world. Different cultural perspectives as well as personal social differences make teachers more globally based. This is very important as this earth of ours is getting smaller and more interdependent as we progress into the 21st century. The current technology of the internet and social networking is bringing people from all over the globe closer together for whatever their interests lie. I see that with teaching and education, it is essential that we be in the forefront of this global movement as our students are depending upon us to prepare them for this rapidly changing world.

Going through my Google reader I came across a blog entitled “The Ten Commandments” by Darren Kuropatwa. In it he talks about George Polya’s Ten Commandments For Teachers from his book Mathematical Discovery. I liked them so much I have copied them below:
1. Be interested in your subject.

2. Know your subject.

3. Know about the ways of learning: The best way to learn anything is to discover it by yourself.

4. Try to read the faces of your students, try to see their expectations and difficulties, put yourself in their place.

5. Give them not only information, but “know-how,” attitudes of mind, the habit of methodical work.

6. Let them learn guessing.

7. Let them learn proving.

8. Look out for such features of the problem at hand as may be useful in solving the problems to come — try to disclose the general pattern that lies behind the present concrete situation.

9. Do not give away your whole secret at once — let the students guess before you tell it — let them find out by themselves as much as is feasible.

10. Suggest it, do not force it down their throats.

Link:
http://adifference.blogspot.com/2009/05/ten-commandments.html

Pageflakes is an excellent tool for teachers to use in the classroom. Considering Social Studies the students can check news and weather from any country and large city from around the world when studying a particular world region. Students can set up their own Pageflakes to help them organize their work. There are so many tools that are easily accessibe on one page . The student starts on Pageflakes and connects with any of the many sources of information that are available. The To Do task section , a calendar, and a calculator all help to keep the student on task with tools right there on the page. Another important aspect of Pageflakes is the ability to share information among students while working on a class project. One can share photos, RSS feeds, Podcasts, documents, blogs and other information found on the internet. The uses are seemingly endless.

Google Docs is a wonderful tool that I can use to do spreadsheets, slide shows, documents and presentations. It is like having Word, Excel and Powerpoint combined into one tool. Ways that it can be used are: 1. In the classroom for students to work on a project as a team to collaborate together to make a presentation, with online revision available. 2. For teachers to collaborate their knowledge of a certain subject that will help a teacher present a certain topic. Economics, geography, history, social studies, politics, and science. 3. For students to research and present their project in a distinctive and creative way using speadsheets, tables, slides, photos as well as documentation.
The link below is for my published document on Google Docs.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d89tg5x_03h8k97hs

In going through Utube I found 2 videos on teaching Social Studies. They were filmed as a personal perspective, and very visual, with nice music accompanying them. The videos were also categorized into topics.
The How to section was very comprehensive, as I went through various How to do this or that…, and I always found a video. Amazing!
The Teachertube search resulted in a nice educational video on the War of 1812. Very graphic and informative for students.
I can see the many implications to use videos as instructional tools in the classroom, especially Teachertube. It seems by searching on a particular topic one can usually find an appropriate and useful video. Utube has so much on it that one must be very discriminating. These are very useful tools that can broaden the students knowledge on a certain subject. Producing a video is a great way to incorporate nice music with graphic pictures along with the spoken word that can be categorized into various sections.

Podcasts add to the educational experience of students because of their accessibility and varied content. I went to the EPN (Education Podcast Network) and watched and listened to a few podcasts in the Social Studies category Speaking of  History.  The podcasts were informative and very well done!  This is an excellent way for students to learn while watching and listening,  using 2 senses instead of one, which is more powerful.  The uses of podcasting would be unlimited to broaden the students perspectives about virtually any subject that is taught.

http://epnweb.org/

Library Thing is a great tool for finding out about other similar books from the one you have read and enjoyed.  For instance, 1984 had 20 Library Thing recommendations of other similar books to it, and 40 member recommendations!   Also, the member review section was  helpful to know what others think about the book.

Zeitgeist was impressive due to it’s content of top books, reviews, reviewers, authors, tags and taggers.  Groups also had many different that would be very beneficial for students regarding a certaing book they were reading. Suggestor would be helpful to find other books that are similar to the one you are interested in, without going to the book itself and looking up the recommended books list of Library Thing and readers. I did not care for the unsuggestor though, unless it is there as a joke!

Library Thing is an essential tool for the educator and student who reads books as it helps to find similar books and reviews on books that you are not sure you want to read. Lots of important information can be accessed quickly.  Very time saving!

The Delicious site for tagging bookmarks of various websites is great!  It allows me to group sites together under different topics.  It is excellent for organizing websites, and it will save lots of time looking for sites when I want to use them later.  The function of utilizing other users bookmarks can also save time and effort by pooling our resources.   It is a great tool for the educator for keeping organized and broadening our website resources with the help of others.  With all the information out there, it is a nice way to keep it accessible and manageable at the same time.  This would be good to teach to students to help them get organized and keep the websites they like readily accessible.

It is interesting that several of the tags could not connect to a website for some reason.  Maybe they went out of business?

http://delicious.com/ernestvolaric

I found an interesting blog regarding permanence of what one puts on the internet.  It is called “The Internet  Is Forever…Sort Of…” by Bob Sprankle, in which  he warns that what a student puts on facebook, for example, an embarrasing photo, could be used against him or her later when applying to college or seeking  a job.  Besides being permanent , the internet, he states is also subject to the whims of corporations that could delete information at will.  For instance, he mentions  that Yahoo is attempting to wipe out 7 million Geocities sites of the early 80’s,  and his The Archive Team at archiveteam.org has attempted to save as many of these pages as possible before their obliteration.  So in summary he reccommends to back up what you want to keep on the internet, and to think carefully about what you put on  the internet for possible future ramifications.