I think this is really neat and I agree with it. My Creative Writing/IB English 11-12 teacher from high school has a facebook page, a personal one, and she is friends with alot of her teacher friends, current students and student alumni. Not only do we get to keep in touch with her, but she also asks our opinion on how to run the class, how to make it better, becuase we have been there before. She has also issued a challenge to all her alumni and teacher friends to keep track of how many books we have read this year, and I am now in my mid-twenties. Thanks to her, I've kept on reading and writing, all because we are friends on facebook.
I found this useful website that has many links and sources for history teachers trying to incorporate technology into their classes. They seem to provide quite a bit of support. I think I will like this site.
This is a great website for history teachers. It provides a comprehensive guide to teaching history with various types of technology. It includes different links to websites that provide technological lesson plans and activities, most of which I found could be very useful in a history classroom. The site also gives ideas on creating presentations and using multimedia in the classroom. Another great feature the site provides is the ability to discuss and collaborate with other history teachers - it provides blogs, Wikis, and even Google docs.
I don't think we should have students just playing games all the time, but they can be a good arrow in the quiver of teaching methodologies. This is an interesting article into the use of games to teach core subjects, like science.
"Integration of technology is an integral part of project based learning, because technology is an integral part of life outside the classroom as revealed in this part of the definition - "types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.""
An algebra project focusing on a theme which interests students is more likely to engage them in the project, so lets take a look at sports. Many students participate in sports at some level, whether as part of a school team or a community team.
For the most part these same students do not understand the costs involved to host the sport. Also, they do not understand how much money is needed to ensure a profitable season so the sport can continue from year to year.
How many times have you prepared an updated or new dynamic math or science PowerPoint or Keynote presentation for class and it would not open in school?
Also, how many times has it happened to your students when it's time to give a class presentation? Now you need to postpone their presentation to another day, disrupting even the best planning.
This blog includes a lot of videos about interesting ways to use different technologies. Some of the technologies featured so far have been Google Wave, iPod Touch, Nintendo Wii, Wiki, Twitter, Wordle, and even VoiceThread. Check them out!