Microblogging

This feature is neat. I would use this in the classroom when working in the computer lab or while using the class set of laptops. Students can ask questions and talk to other students about what they are doing with out distracting the rest of the class. Also, I could have a homework help hour at home where students can sign on and either ask each other or myself questions about the homework or things we are working on in class. This feature is another way that students and teachers can stay in touch.

Interesting Blog Post

The interesting blog I found was on a using technology in a history classroom called speaking of History. The post was actually a podcast on how to use the illustrated version of the book 1776 in your classroom. This was relevant to me because I am currently teaching the revolutionary war in my 11th grade US History class and because 1776 is one of my favorite books.

http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/2009/09/podcast-201-using-david-mcculloughs.html

Analogy

A learner is like a new computer. By the time you take a computer home they are already out of date and you have updates. Learning has changed so much over the last 50 years. What we know today may be untrue tomorrow. According to the article, "Knowledge is growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now measured in months and years." I chose my computer analogy because every few months a company comes out with a better faster version making the old one look slow.When Jeff Siemens went to school he had "completely different needs than he sees that higher education students have today." This shows how much learning has changed in such a short amount of time. Students ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is very important.

Resources

Siemens, G. (2005, January). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, Retrieved November 20, 2005

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcTHndpzYg&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=0 Retrieved January 10, 2009.

NIng Group

I joined a group for History teachers called Canterbury History. Its URL is http://canterburyhistory.ning.com/. This site posts videos and has discussions about teaching methods in History classes. They even list songs that you can teach your class to sing in class. I would use the videos the most in my classroom

Screen Capture

3 Ways I can use blogs in class

1) Instead of having students respond to some scenerios in a journal, students can use the blog
2) Posting Classroom announcements
3) Group communication during projects