Lesson Plans and Blogging

While going through the list of edubloggers and picking ones that seemed relevant to my subject(English), I got excited when I read Dana Huff's latest entry.  She has created a "Back to School Contest" in which teachers can share a lesson plan for grades 9-12 that is only their own original ideas.  The lesson plan must be on writing, literature, or grammar, or a combination of all three.  The winner receives a flash drive with a ton of Dana Huff's personal handouts, as well as quizzes assignments etc.  While I don't think that I am ready to enter a contest such as this(I have only written one lesson plan in a group), it made me think about the opportunities that blogging creates for teachers.  If I am stuck on a unit, and cannot manage to think of a creative way to present it to my students, I can write a blog about it and other english teachers could collaborate with me, or I bet I could find an entry out there on the subject, or at least an entry that could inspire some exciting ideas.  Technology has the capability to create an exciting learning environment for students and teachers, and I can't wait to see how I will utilize it in my teaching career.

Implementing Creative Curriculum

Speaking to the kids from New York on conference call really got me thinking about ways to engage my students in English next year.  The idea was presented of having kids use myspace pages about Greek gods in order to demonstrate their understanding.  I think that this idea is a great one, and see how it could really engage kids and make them interested in the subject matter.  I worry that I won't be able to come up with any ideas that are as creative on my own. During my schooling I experienced a more traditional curriculum in terms of technology, so until this course I had not even started to think of ways that I could be creative with it to get kids excited about the subject.  Oh the possibilities!

Twitter In the Classroom

Last week when Liz began to teach us about Twitter, I was very skeptical.  Twitter is something that before last week, I did not know much about.  I knew that it was a social networking site, but that was about it.  Now I have moved from being a Twitter novice, to thoughts about how I can incorporate it into my classroom.  I think that it can be a positive tool, as it can allow students that would not otherwise contribute to class discussion become a participant.  On the other hand, there is the growing concern that because kids are using technology so much, they are having trouble communicating effectively in everyday life.  Will using Twitter contribute to this problem or will it foster more class discussion?  Something to think about.

Technology in My Future Classroom

As is evident from my drawing of how I want my classroom to be set up, what technology I want is something that I have not thought about much before. By looking at the drawing it is clear that one, I am far from artistic, and two, I only have things that are pretty common to a classroom such as desks, a chalkboard, a projector, computer, and TV with a VCR or DVD player. After other members of the class got up to talk about their ideal classroom, I realized that there were a lot of possibilities with technology now a days(funding permitted obviously). I however went through school without much technology being used besides a TV and DVD player, and because of that I think that my mind was limited in thinking of the possibilities. Hopefully through this class I will expand my thoughts on this and I am sure that at the end of the year my drawing will not look quite the same!