IPad Apps: Dr. Seuss's ABC

An IPad app that I think could be very useful for younger elementary classrooms would be the Dr. Seuss's ABC app. It includes many of the classic Dr. Seuss stories and includes pictures, narration, and background sounds. I think it will make kids interested in reading because Dr. Seuss stories are fun to read. In the stories in this app, words are highlighted as the story is being read and words get zoomed in on if the picture with the page gets touched. The books can be viewed in three ways either with the "Read to Me" option where the story can be listened to and words highlighted as it is read, the "Read it Myself" option where kids can read it themselves, or the "Auto Play" option where the book plays like a movie would. I think this app could be used positively because it could get kids interested in reading and as time progresses it will teach them words, so they can eventually read it on their own. It could be used negatively because the kids could think they don't have to learn to read because it will do it for them. It could also be used negatively if the teacher relies on it all the time and  it could replace the teacher reading to the class which I think is important in younger classrooms. Overall I think this app could be really useful in the classroom and it is a fun way for kids to read. I found this app on a website designed specifically to show different educational IPad apps that could be used for different areas of education.

Edmodo in the Classroom

I think that edmodo.com could be very useful in my future classroom. It provides a way for the teacher and students to communicate through class discussions on the class page. It also provides a place that I could create posts of assignments, alerts, or even class polls. I would be ablle to pick what posts are sent to what groups, individuals, or specific classes. I could also upload any file that I want my class to read or view as homework outside of class time and have them comment on it through a class discussion. Any teacher can create a class page all you have to do is sign up. Any student can be added to my group or page by just being invited with a class code. With Edmodo I could view when assignments are turned in, monitor and reply to student posts, manage all groups, have an online gradebook, organize files, and locate files with tags or filters. With Edmodo I could also connect with other teachers to see what they are doing in their classrooms and could communicate with them through notes that are sent to their inbox page. Edmodo looks pretty easy to use and it looks like Facebook so I think that students would think it is something new and exciting to use.

Learning With the Interent Article

The article that I read for this assignment talked about how schools and teachers can use the internet as a learning tool it is Learning With the Internet by Muthu Kumar. The internet can provide three types of tools in the classroom they are: tools for inquiry, tools for communication, and tools for construction. The internet can be very useful because it provides a wide range of resources to students and teachers, rapid communication is available with others, and it provides learning scaffolding through a wide range of activities which supports higher order thinking skills from students. Teachers can also use online lesson plans that provide something new and exciting for students. With this teachers could spend the right amount of time planning making sure that the students get all they can out of the lesson; teachers just have to make sure the lesson plan they find and use is a credible source. The internet can also be a bad thing because students may not be able to tell the difference between websites with reliable information and ones that have unreliable information. There are also many other things a student can do online and not be paying attention to the lesson being taught.

Wiki

Over the past week I have been looking at, and trying to use the Wiki website. I actually used it today for one of my classes when I needed sources for a bibliography. Wiki is a simple online database where information is organized in all forms such as text, documents, graphics, or other multimedia. Anyone can add to a wiki to share the knowledge they have on a subject, or build onto the knowledge that others have already put in. It also allows for group communication through open editing where the information is constantly being updated. I think it would be really useful in the classroom for any type of research project, a place for a classroom to communicate, make a wiki about what they learned that day, or anything that information is needed for. I think that anyone could find whatever information needed on this website and could be really useful if used efficiently.

This site is the definition of Wiki
http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

Education 109

In Education 109 today we talked about how to use Blogger in the classroom and its possible positive or negative effects it can have.