One of the posts I read that I follow
on Feedly was titled “7 New Educational Web Tools for Teachers” In this post, the
author shared seven web tools that can make a teachers work easier and more
efficient! One of the tools is called Meta. It is a tool that allows you
to search your websites as well as your documents and desktop to be able to
find exactly what you are looking for. This can come in handy if you are
looking for a file and cannot remember where you saved it to! Another tool that
I found useful is Remotely. This tool allows you to access your desktop
computer from anywhere that internet connection is available. I think this
could be very useful to be able to access your school desktop from home and
your home desktop from school. In case you ever forget something or have work
that you need to do but you did it on a computer you do not have access to,
this can come in handy. One last tool that I would like to discuss that I found
useful is JuniorTube. This is like YouTube, but only has videos for
children under thirteen that have been preapproved. This is invaluable for a
teacher and for parents so that we do not have to worry that our kids may be
watching something that they should not be.
Another
post that I follow on Feedly and enjoyed reading was “Here is How to Teach
Writing Using Technology”. This article goes through the four main steps of the
writing process: pre-writing, which includes writing prompts and mind maps,
writing, revising and editing, and publishing and sharing. Under each category
in the article, there is a brief description of what the student will be doing
while in the section of the writing process and there are several links to
educational technology tools that can be used to teach the are and for the
students to work on their writing in the area. This article and the links provided
to the various tools can be very valuable for a teacher that would like to
teach and work in the writing process in a new and exciting way, rather than
with only paper and pencil. Also, once the students are familiar with working
with the tools, I think it would be a much more efficient and quick way to
teach and practice the writing process.
I enjoyed reading your blog, the 7 New Educational Web Tools for Teachers was very informative and something that I would like to use in my classroom. Meta is a good tool for teachers because it allows us to store information and keep us from losing them, as teachers we are extremely busy and can't keep track of everything sometimes. Remotely is an excellent tool to take your work everywhere you go, thus allowing you to work on things even while you are outside your home and work. JuniorTube is excellent, thank you for the tip. This not only helps me communicate with my students, it keeps them from entering unnecessary websites.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy reading about teaching approaches about literacy and how to better engage students to write more because it is probably the one thing all teachers in all subjects want the most--for students to write more. I strongly believe that technology helps with this and the first article was something different for me because when I would think of transcribing, I would think of a dyslexic student or one that struggles in reading when in reality it can benefit everyone in the class.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteWriting seems to keep being a challenge in the classroom. No matter what strategy we try, our students are not engaged or motivated to write. Adding technology sound fun and exciting for children who are exploring their writing skills. I think it might even boost their confidence as far as wanting to type away the ideas that come to mind. Great ideas!
-Lourdes
I always have that problem I save something and later on I do not know where to find it, so I am glad I read your blog! I think Meta is something that many would find very useful, especially teachers who save a ton of lessons and resources on their computers.
ReplyDeleteHello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to learn about the app called Meta because it is always hard for me to remember where I saved my documents. I will definitely use this app as well as the JuniorTube to find videos for the lesson plans. I agree with you about how using technology tool for writing is more efficient when teaching students, the writing process.