Week+2-+Jan+18th

Class Reflection Wow! **Google docs** are fantastic! I had no idea the networking available for myself and my classroom. I am very excited to be able to use these tools. With a brief introduction, I found google docs to be relatively easy to manipulate. I would now consider using google sites as my main tool for website creation in my future classroom. During the past week I have tried to think of ways I can start using google docs for my **assignments** and I have a few ideas for **group projects**. It was great to have a technology teacher in as he gave us many practical ways to use technology both with our class and our coworkers.


 * Clickers** are also an excellent tool for teaching. I would definitely use clickers in my class in assessment for learning. What did the students retain? Where can we go with this class?

Multimedia Link This is an image of the many opportunities in the world of Web 2.0. These sites seem to be the future of the internet as with google docs.

Reading //Understanding Digital Kids II: Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation// by Ian Jukes, Ted McCain and Lee Crockett

Reflection on Reading

1. I have surprisingly done most things on the list but I visited two sites that I have not seen before, MTV "The N" website and Teacher Tube, to improve my own learning. 2. I like the idea of more critical thinking in the classroom. I think it is difficult for teachers to assess and that's why teachers do not include it very much. It is hard to get students to do things that do not have marks attached to it as well. Hopefully the teaching trend is heading that direction though since Thinking and Inquiry and Application are large portions of the marking process. 3. Coming into teaching, I definitely feel infowhelmed. I agree that teaching has shifted from content provider to problem solver. This reality helps me to cope with the idea that I do not need to know everything and I am still of use in the classroom. 4. The old complaints of school improvements really does make me think differently about social networking and its use in the classroom. 5. Virtual group projects is a good way to include social networking in the classroom. It's amazing to think the classroom could expand to an international scope. 6. I am proud to say I am presenting a biology lesson to my class in two weeks and we decided that the task would be to have the students make a powerpoint or some kind of audio/visual display of the meiosis process as their assignment/class activity. 7. Assessment continues to be one of the biggest challenges in teaching. Our society's need to rank and sort makes for a marks driven school system. Hopefully teacher's are actively evaluating their assessment methods to continually improve the system.

Technology Corner

This week I used a new technology called Inspiration 9. It was fantastic for making a thought map of ideas that I had to create for a class. You can create a thought map with access to a huge database of pictures. This could be used in the classroom to create concept maps or for students to brainstorm with.