From time to time I’m invited to speak to future teachers about how I use technology in my day-to-day teaching life. In no particular order, here are my top ten technology tools for the English classroom.
- The teacher blog: (provided by the school)
I update this daily to keep track of makeup work and assignments, making sure to that most of the work that I pass out in class is a document that can be opened and printed out from the media center or classroom for absent, or absent-minded students.This is also a great tool for those precious days when you are in the computer lab. I sometimes assemble links for the day’s lesson on the “daily agenda” section of the teacher blog so students have easy access to the links I want them to use throughout the activity.- My old teacher blog: http://janellmcclure.typepad.com/miller/
- My current teacher blog: http://mccleskeyms.typepad.com/jmiller/
- United Streaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com/
- Net Trekker: http://www.nettrekker.com/
- del.icio.us account (free, social bookmarking tool)
I use this as a networking tool to share great online resources with my colleagues, both within the school where I teach and with other teacher-friends in and around the US. I would love for students to begin using this tool as part of our online research, since this is the way I often use this tool. It also helps me to stay organized and compile links I can pull up quickly in class for a lesson or warmup.- My del.icio.us account: http://del.icio.us/jmill123
- An explanation of social bookmarking: http://blip.tv/file/331587
- wordpress, edublogs, etc.
I use weblogs for a variety of purposes, for professional development, conference presentations, personal research, journaling, and maintaining sanity. Over the years, I’ve developed enough self-awareness to realize that I am chronically unorganized, non-linear, and love to procrastinate. So to protect myself from, well, myself, I’ve developed some seemingly obsessive organizational habits that help keep my world on its axis.- Professional/personal blog: http://teachmetech.wordpress.com/
- Teacher-research for 2008 KMWPsi: http://placematters.edublogs.org/
- Wiki page for 2008 KMWPsi: http://slogfest.wetpaint.com/page/Jess
- Capstone materials for Masters degree: http://wordsmatter.wordpress.com/
- Cohort blog (created on request): http://caringcohort.wordpress.com/
- Quick-links (frequently used online resources)
Although there are many more resources in my del.icio.us account and here on this blog than I can possibly use in a day, there are a few that I return to frequently.- Jim Burke’s Tools for Reading, Writing, and Thinking
- 4Teachers Family of Tools (free, online-I have used Rubistar with success, but am unfamiliar with many of the other tools found here)
- Flickr.com I love using images for writing practice or warmup activities when prompts run dry. This is a great way to add variety and visual interest to the daily grind, and is useful when asking students to focus on a particular writing strategy.
- Zamzar The internet connection where I used to work was unreliable, or blocked videos that I wanted to share with my class, so I often use Zamzar to convert these videos to files I can save to my laptop and show through the projector.
- Common Craft Show While I don’t access this daily, it’s a great resource for just about any audience when trying to explain some of the more commonly used Internet platforms I use (or want to use) in my class.
- Students as film-makers
This is a compendium of online tools that I have found useful in helping students understand the conventions and composition of digital films. By the time my students reach seventh grade most of them have at least some familiarity with PowerPoint so we usually begin with this software as a platform for storyboarding.- Digital Directors Guild Provides a rational for using digital film-making in the classroom
- Kids’ Vid: Video Production for Students Guided practice for students
- del.icio.us/digitalstorytelling My bookmarked links for digital storytelling
- TeacherTube Allows for publishing of student and/or teacher created work
- Digital Directors Guild Provides a rational for using digital film-making in the classroom
- Online Writing Communities
There are many platforms for creating an online classroom or writing community for students these days. Although I have limited personal experience with these environments (primarily due to internet restrictions at the local school) the success and student-interest generated by using them has encouraged me to try again.- Think.com — I used this platform with much success in the first half of the school year (before the site became inexplicably and irreparably blocked/dysfunctional with the school server). Free, and compatible with most schools, this platform offers incredible flexibility, ease of use, and a variety of privacy levels.
- Gaggle.net — Although I don’t have personal experience with this platform, several of my colleagues swear by Gaggle and use it all year long. Free use includes advertisements, but maintains privacy/security.
- 21 Classes — Free classroom and education blogs. This service is new to me and is something I might try this school year.
- Reading
I didn’t really consider myself a reader until I started using some online tools that document your reading habits. I’ve started using these tools to bookmark future reading material and to gain knowledge of books I can recommend to my students. I have also begin integrating professional learning and collaboration with my personal collection.I’ve also developed some new literacy practices along the way, which includes subscribing to various feeds. This helps me to stay current on information that I would otherwise have to hunt for (not that I mind hunting, but I find it wastes a lot of time). This is another tool I use to keep tabs on both personal and professional information.- My goodreads.com page Allows users to monitor their own reading habits, share books with others, and keep an ongoing list of future reading material
- 2008 KMWPsi goodreads.com group
- Bloglines.com Manages feeds using RSS (an explanation of RSS)
- Georgia Performance Standards
- National Council for Teachers of English
- Fun things
Avatars, logos, etc. - Future and current plans
The pace of technology doesn’t allow for me to integrate every idea that comes across my path, so I often return to sites that I know I can’t use in my current practice, but that help fuel future plans, keeping me excited about the next big thing.- teachweb2.0 is a wiki space with constantly evolving resources; teacher generated and reviewed, you could easily become a part of this collaborative community. I plan to try out Gabcast, Voicethread, and Diigo.
- You!
My greatest resource is definitely other teachers. Knowing the pitfalls, as well as success, of other professionals in the trenches inspires me to continue working with technology in my own classroom. Without the support (moral/ethical/emotional) of other teachers, using technology in the classroom can sometimes feel like an effort that is wasted. Students love using this stuff, but I have had experiences where this enthusiasm (from my students and myself) created a backlash from teachers that are inclined to reject this trend of technology integration.
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