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There is an old oak tree in my backyard that I’ve nicknamed “Leo the Late Bloomer”. The reason why is that right now when all of the other foliage is showing typical signs of spring this old tree is still hanging on to dried up leaves from last season. This is case year after year, and it does eventually catch up!
So what does this have to do with technology? Well, I wonder how many of you out there reading this blog post might be “Late Bloomers” or at least know one or two. In this information age, technology resources for teaching, learning, and networking are aplenty! What new technologies have you added to your arsenal of tools, or are you still holding on to the old stuff, like my old oak? Don’t be “Leo the Late Bloomer” and have to catch up later, just pick one tool/application now and start exploring!
Here are a few places to start, all of which are FREE resources…
For Social and Professional Networking: Twitter, Facebook, and Ning.
For Blogs and Wikis: Edublogs, Blogger, Wikispaces, and Wetpaint.
For Creating Media: PhotoStory, Movie Maker, iMovie, Animoto, and 12 Seconds.
More fun tools for learning: Newspaper Clip Generator and Vocaroo.
Over a year ago Google released an application that will allow users to make “web applications just as powerful as desktop applications.” Currently, Google Gears will allow users to work on a Google Document offline and then when an online session is resumed the edits are synced back to the document where they are saved, stored, and shared. To learn more about this application check out this You Tube video.
Click here to view my fall media project arborteum_october2008.
This is indeed my favorite season of the year. Recently I visited the Dallas Arboretum and saw what I believe to be their best fall display ever! Two ideas came to mind while observing the beauty of nature…we live in a very diverse world, and changes is all around us!
We considering diversity and technology, we all have a very diverse skill set that we use to approach our daily tasks — some are expert emailers, some are expert bloggers, some are expert movie editors, some are expert podcasters, and some just feel like their areas of expertise are not in the realm of technology! I can accept that and it bring me to my second point, change!
Changes is inevitable. We have choices when it comes to change – we can embrace it, deny it, or stand back and watch. Regardless of how each of us choses to respond, we can’t stop it. The way we interact with the world is changing, the way in which children need to be educated is changing, therefore, as educators we must change.
As you view the pages of my blogsite I hope you will find a way to make a positive change in the way you teach children. There are many options to choose from — Digital Storytelling, Podcasting, Distance Learning, Tools of the Web 2.0 World, and many more. Start with just one tool, and begin infusing it into your daily instruction, into the various areas of the curriculum. These are exciting days in education and offer many opportunities for student engagement while we continue to prepare students for our ever-changing world!
