At The Teachers Desk

I really enjoyed exploring this the website A The Teachers Desk. This is a great website to use as a resource for teachers. I found a lot of great information and blog post on this site. It is important to have collaborative professional blogs such as this one because you have a place to share and gain valuable information. It can be used as a sounding board to share ideas. I found some very interesting post while looking over this site. The first blog post I came across was Using Technology for Effective Communication. This post shared some great examples of how to use facebook, twitter feed, and Mobile phones to communicate with parents. In this post the writer expresses that teachers need to continue their learning. They need to be aware of current technology and use it as a learning tool.

I never thought of using facebook as a form of communication with parents, but this was a suggestion in this blog. The writer uses facebook solely for communication with parents. I thought that was a great idea. In another post titled It Is Imperative We Help Our Students Create a Positive Digital Portfolio we learn that not only do good actions show up on facebook or other tools of technology, but inappropriate behavior makes its way in also. Students do not even understand the consequences of their behavior until it is to late. I explained this to my own nephew who is in high school to be very careful about what he puts out on facebook. Universities are looking back over facebook to check student's out before admissions. Students need to be warned of this. As educators I believe that we need to help students create a personal work space that reflects what they have learned, but at the same time show their personality.

How Do I Know I Am Not Just Being Selfish is another blog post I read. I found this very interesting. I agree with the writer that sometimes it seems technology is being shoved down our throats all the time. As I have stated in other post I believe that technology is important, but it is not the answer for everything. Using Skype to Connect ESOL Students with Foreign Language Students was a very exciting post. I really enjoyed this post. I thought it was great to see Skype being used in schools. I thought the skype conference between Mrs. Baker's ESOL class and Mrs. Whitter's Spanish class was a great example of how far we have come with technology. It seemed like the students were having a great time. To me that is the goal, to get students interested and eager to learn with this use of technology. It is important for students to have fun while they learn. I feel that students get more out of their education if they have an active role in it.

Pencils and Crayons to be Banned in Schools was a funny post. It really made you think of the place of technology in the classroom. It seems like their will never be an easy resolution to this topic. Everyone has a different opinion on this subject. Technology bridges the gap between more traditional ways of teaching.