ISTE

 Technology is everywhere now. Kids are capable now of passing a note to their friends in the other room and teachers not even know they’re doing it

(although I’m sure they have a hunch). We were lucky to hit the right person in the head with the origami we made with our notes. It’s an incredible tool we now have in our hands. Teachers can use this power to ensure students graduate with the skills that will make them marketable to their future employers. The ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education. 

This organization helps teachers have standards to shoot for when planning instruction. The standards not only deal with how teachers should be using technology but also how students should be using technology. For instance, the ISTE standards state that students should be knowledge curators and use critical thinking to use technology in a way to create resources for their peers. Critical thinking is a skill actively sought after by companies and employers. Also employers seek out leaders and one of ISTE standards for teachers is to use technology to help students to become leaders. The ISTE standards are the how in using technology in your classroom. If you would like more information and what the standards are and using them for your student’s betterment visit 

https://www.iste.org/standards

Blog Overload and using The Old Reader

 I've never been completely blog savvy. I'll follow someone for a while and then they will overwhelm me with too much information and that will be the end of my following. I've always thought you had to follow someone the old fashioned way by subscribing through e-mail. This has always been the way I've done it. Then you come into your e-mail and have 237 unread messages when you just wanted to check whether your teacher had sent any news about your classes. You can also use social media, but then you may not see everyone and facebook decides that you would be more interested in the company selling the label makers than the mom who makes her own soap. Enter the RSS aggregator:

This is a snapshot of what the homepage of my aggregator looks like. It is called The Old Reader. It is handy because you can pick which blogs you would like to focus on. This makes seeing blogs that you might be trying to get ideas for lesson plan ideas from a lot easier. You can create a folder for all those bloggers and voila, you have all your lesson planning pages in one spot. I also like to find out how to make homemade body care products. This allows me to put all of those bloggers in one place as well and not have to cruise through 5 or 6 different blogs on 5 or 6 different tabs. This is the first time that I have came across an RSS aggregator, but I certainly think I'll be using one from now on.

Winning the War With Writing

Have you ever started a lesson on writing and hear a collective groan through the classroom? Is this the look on your student's face when they are told they have a writing assignment:

Then it may be time to consider blogging. Blogging is not a new idea, but it is an idea that has been giving classrooms a fresh wind when it comes to writing. When student's blog, they are able to have a personal say in what is presented in their writing. They take ownership and have a personal stake in their writing. Blogging allows them to get their own thoughts on paper (ahem: computer) and share it with the world🌍, their friends 👊, and their family 👪.. It brings excitement and personalization to writing in a way a graphic organizer never could. It can be used for any subject, it can showcase work, and it can be used to assess where children are in the subject matter.  Give blogging a try, you just might like it.

If you would like more information here is a link to many videos that can explain what they are and how to start one for your class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDxg5ODEXEQ&list=PLq4p3q2fmMYW_Ix1OR6tFT1iFdwiMkf42

Happy Blogging!!