I Love Wikipedia

I love Wikipedia and Youtube. 

     Youtube is a tool that is blocked under student log-ins, but available for teachers to use.  This is a great tool for fun videos to use with your instruction.  Are there drawbacks? Of course!  You MUST watch in their entirety the videos before you play them to 30 students.  There are times when you think you’re watching one thing, then BAM something inappropriate comes on.  Also, the ads can be a bit annoying.  However, if you use Youtube in a professional manner, it is a great FREE tool.

     Wikipedia was probably my best friend during undergrad.  I used it as starting point for research or just basic understanding.  After reading an article on topic it would help me guide my research in a better direction.  Also, the references listed at the bottom were great places to go.  I use it now as a teacher when I need to write an information piece for my students at their level (1^st/2^nd grade reading).  When my friends and I are having a discussion on a random topic it’s easy to pull up my Wikipedia app to prove myself right.

     Wikipedia is actually blocked on my schools internet for students.  However, if the students want to look at it for general information, I don’t have a problem with it.  When we teach students how to do research for essays we generally tell them to stay away from Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers, and sites where anyone anywhere can edit the information.  We try to teach them to look for reputable sources.  For example if my 7^th grader is doing research on heart disease we would want them to use Mayo Clinic or the American Heart Association for a reference, not Wikipedia. 

Photograph from http://goo.gl/5ESiOj

Twitter, Blogs, and Feedly

Blogs:

Free Technology for Teachers http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

      I decided to add this Blog to my Feedly because I love Free stuff!  Our Title 1 funds are mostly advocated to intervention teachers, so technology things are usually moved to the bottom.  This website is also great because it talks about the free technology and how you can use it in the classroom.

Cycles of Learning http://www.cyclesoflearning.com/posts.html

      This blog was added because the writer is a Google certified teacher.  My district utilizes Google Apps for Education and I would like to learn things beyond “Google Docs.”  This Blog features many great ways to use Google in the classroom.

2 Cents Worth http://2cents.onlearning.us/

      The author of this Blog writes to pose questions and to learn himself.  He dabbles in a bit of educational politics and offers examples of tech learning.  He speaks in a very straightforward way, which I appreciate.

Twitter Handles:

@RickWormeli Rick is an educator, speaker, and author who really makes you think about assessment and education.  He is a must follow for teachers.

@Educationweek Education Week is an educational based newspaper that posts about trends and politics in education.

@ScholasticTeach Scholastic’s Twitter feed is full of information for teachers. They include games, strategies, and general educational information.

@Web20Classroom This Twitter feed is packed with tech things to bring to your school and classroom.

@Carp_CHS204 This is actually the Twitter feed of my old high school Government/Econ Teacher.  He uses his Twitter in a great meaningful way for students. If I taught high school, my twitter would be modeled after his!

Reflection:

So far this semester I have not used my Twitter or Feedly for school reasons.  If I were to use my Twitter for teaching purposes I would create a completely separate account.  I use my personal Twitter for mostly sports and pop-culture.  I follow some teaching/academic accounts and I often read the articles they post about, but I generally do not post about education.  Twitter could be a great tool for posting reminders, extra credit (if you believe in that), fun facts, and background information for an upcoming unit.