Facebook as an Instructional Tool

Although many of us continue thinking that Facebook and many other technologies can be considered to be effective technological tools for the classroom, we hardly ever think about why and how to use these tools to promote effective learning. Through doing some research on Facebook, I came upon several articles that explained how to use Facebook in the classroom. However, one particular story that caught my attention was that of a student, whose teacher had created a classroom Facebook account, where the students had to post responses to the readings.

Something that particularly struck my attention was the way in which this student defended the real usefulness of Facebook in the classroom. She understood that these things like posting responses online could certainly be done in Moodle or Blackboard; however, she saw Facebook as being more effective because of the obvious familiarity that students already have with it. This first-hand account from a student on how Facebook can be used in the classroom really made me change my perspective on the many different ways in which I can use it in my own classroom. Of course, I understand that to make this tool safe for my students, their accounts and private information need to be hidden from the other followers. Yet, once this minor obstacle is resolved, the teacher and students have the opportunity to disembark on a journey that will guide the students towards learning.

Interactivity #4

Creating a Persuasive Podcast

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As part of my Fieldwork semester, I was asked by my cooperating teacher to give a lesson on persuasive writing. For this reason, when I found this lesson plan, I was amazed about the different ways of using technology to introduce persuasive writing.

As I was examining my chosen lesson plan, I thought that the strategies were great and really needed no change. The teacher went in depth in modeling how to persuade somebody through a podcast found in the internet, her modeled persuasive map and her own podcast. However, I did notice a gap between the strategies and the curriculum goals. This lesson used two different standards to show how the students should speak; yet, did not use any standards to show how the students needed to evaluate the teacher’s podcast, as well as their fellow students’ and to show how they had to write a good argument in their persuasive map first, before creating their podcast. I found this to be two essential goals that should have been highlighted in the lesson plan. In addition, there are many smart board interactivities in the internet that can be used to teach about podcasts and persuasive writing that would have gone great with the lesson, as well as smart board tools that could have made the modeling of the persuasive map more interactive for the students.

            Overall, I think that the technologies are definitely more effective than just plain lectures and group work. I really loved the idea of creating a persuasive podcast particularly because the students not only have the chance to improve their presentation skills, but they also create something that they can then share with their peers. Therefore, these technologies are necessary to engage the students in the lesson.

Using the Ipad in the Classroom

I wanted to share this slideshare presentation on ways of using the Ipad in the classroom. As I posted in an earlier post, I received an Ipad for my birthday/Valentine's Day and I have been looking for different ways of using it in my classroom. I thought that this was one of the best presentations on ways to use it in not only English, but also other content areas. I hope that you find this useful and that you can comment on other ways you think this tool can be used in the classroom.

How to use iPads in the classroom

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Using the Smartboard

Through this Fieldwork semester, I have noticed how useful the Smartboard can be in the classroom. In fact, I have noticed how much students can learn by using this interactive tool. To help my cooperative teacher, I was looking for some Smartboard interactive lessons and I found this list of useful ideas that I thought would be great to share with you.

Book Cover Creator – The Book Cover Creator is designed to allow users to type and illustrate front book covers, front and back covers, and full dust jackets. Students can use the tool to create new covers for books that they read as well as to create covers for books they write individually or as a class.
Book Cover Guide – Students can use the tool to review the parts of a book cover before analyzing how book covers work or creating their own book covers.
Writing an Acrostic Poem – Students can learn about and write acrostic poems. An acrostic poem uses the letters in a word to begin each line of the poem.
Get started writing with Myths Brainstorming Machine – The Brainstorming Machine will help students get started when they need writing ideas for a myth. They can select the setting, the characters, and other effects.
Poetry Idea Engine – The interactive Poetry Idea Engine helps students identify and write different types of poetry.
Increase Your Reading Comprehension – Students read a passage and select the word(s) needed to complete the sentence correctly. They must use context clues and comprehension in order to be able to answer correctly.
Create Your Own Diamante Poem – Students interactively create a diamante poem. The computer interactively guides them through the writing process.
Clean Up Your Grammar – Students “clean up their grammar” as they toss trash from the beach into the correct bin. Immediate reinforcement and level selection keep students learning and practicing.
Character Scrapbook – Students will use this interactive activity to determine character traits of a character in a book. Students will think critically about characters in the books they are reading.
Pick the Perfect Word Game – Students practice identifying the parts of speech in this game.  The characters and words are based on the popular story of Charlotte’s Web.
Story Starters – This is a quick writing activity that can be used daily or whenever students have time.  They generate story starter then decide if they want to write on a notebook, a letter, newspaper, or postcard.  Finally, they may print their story for a cool surprise!
Space Station Syllabication – Students practice dividing words into syllables in this game.  Each correct response earns another piece for the space station.
Synonym Challenge – Players race against the clock to select a synonym for the word given.  Green bar climbs on the screen to encourage players to “think quick.”