Thing 4

When I started this journey and saw all the blogs, I wondered how anyone could keep up with all the information. However, after doing this assignment, I realize what a good tool this will be to organize the information and have it come to you. It will be there when you have a chance to read it. I guess it is like everything else--relax and do what you can. Plus it is important to remember you are the person in charge of your blog and can unsubscribe if it gets to be too much.

Thing 3

A blog could be incorporated in classroom assignments where students could respond to posted questions. Also, it could be used to post articles for students to read. In addition, blogging could be helpful for students to reflect on what they learned at the end of each unit of instruction or what they would like to see included in the class. As a middle school teacher, I like the idea that student content can be monitored before it is approved for posting.

One concern I have is how easy it is for students to be distracted when on a computer. Although blogging would initially be a novelty, I could see where students would want to wander to other areas of the Internet. Also, I wonder how much time it would take for a teacher to follow up with the students. I am sure they would want comments. Using blogs continues to demonstrate the divide between students who have access to the Internet at home and students who are only able to access the Internet at school or the public library.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I am participating in 23 Things to learn more about the Web 2.0 and how to utilize the tools available in the classroom and in my personal life. So often it seems time is spent on the computer at work and at home repeating the same tasks. I have heard of interesting sites, but never seem to have the time to check them out. Being in a class will encourage me to make the time.

Watching the video confirmed my belief that students are learning in a different way than we are teaching. At the same time, the school presented in the article seemed like a fantasy--great in theory, but difficult to put into practice. The article did raise some practical questions: Who will provide the technology and at what cost? How to keep students on task when it is easy to be distracted by the technology? When students create a wiki, are they learning verifiable facts or some one's opinion?

Writing on the Internet for anyone to read is a different kind of experience. I know that I will be careful about what I write as it is never really deleted. At the same time, I question how many people, other than my classmates, will be interested in reading what I say.