Week 1

1- Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

As a future teacher, it is important to know what education technology resources are available, what is new, what is free and interesting. I think the best way is to turn to teachers blogs to find out what is useful. 

 Free Technology for teachers by Richard Byrne is a fabulous blog. I believe that it will help me to be current about educational technology. 

It is a five time winner of the Edublogs Award for Best Resource Sharing Blog. The purpose of this site is to share information about free resources that teachers can use in their classrooms. Byrne’s work is focused on sharing free web-based resources that teachers can use to enhance their students’ learning experiences.

In addition to blog posts that keep teachers up-to-date on the latest news in educational technology, it contains links to Google Tutorials, free downloads, lists of essential educator resources.

I can’t wait to try some of these tools in my future classroom, because I agree with Byrne’s words “I believe that when used correctly, technology has the power to improve student engagement and student achievement. I also believe that technology gives teachers the ability to form powerful, global, professional learning communities.”

2- Teddy Bears Blogging by B. Sherry

I found this article to be interesting and with innovative ideas. I think It is not enough to teach students how to read books and write on paper but they need more than that to prepare them for their 21st century lives.

 The Teddy Bear Project is a smart way to introduce second graders to writing. Blogging is a good tool to practice writing for an audience, and to get some typing practice through sharing the expression of real events and thoughts.

The blog site seemed to be well organized and presented, and this is very important to make this project a successful one. It is a great way for teaching internet safety, and responsibility. Close monitoring of the blog was an important idea, especially with elementary students. The idea of having comment moderation was great. It is a big motivation to the students that parents can review and comment on their writing.

As I am interested in teaching ESL students, I can use this project to help ESL students to improve their English skills by listening, reading, and writing comments on language study and culture. Using Blogs offers a new and creative ways of expression that will increase student’s motivation in selecting topics of high interest to them.

3- Learning Standards

2.12 The student will write stories, letters, and simple explanations.
a) Generate ideas before writing.
b) Organize writing to include a beginning, middle, and end for narrative and expository writing.
c) Expand writing to include descriptive detail.

2.14 The student will use available technology for reading and writing.

With second graders, it's important to focus on ideas in order to get them motivated. Exposing students to wordless picture books will help them to develop their writing skills. Also, drawing a picture can help kids understand the importance of using detail and description in their writing besides the fact that kids love to draw. In addition, kids need to share their writing with others. That will make them feel proud.