Thursday, November 21, 2013

Blogs Can Be Empowering

Hi, and welcome to teacher tech talk. Technology articles will be featured here to promote the use of technology in the classroom through featured apps, web tools, and instructional strategies. It is hoped that you will understand the use of, or at least try, one new thing from these posts. Each article will also be posted to a teacher tech talk blog at http://teachertechtalkwithdean.blogspot.ca.

Let us begin with blogs. A blog is a web log and can be used in a variety of ways, such as in the classroom. Here is a link to a video that gives a nice overview of what a blog is:http://www.commoncraft.com/video/blogs . Blogs are easy to set up and customize for the needs of your classroom and your comfort level. They can be used as a way for teachers to communicate with parents and have students share ideas, or be a place of collaboration. The following are a couple of great blogs to check out: http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org andhttp://mathleteblogs.com/teacher/mr-pearce/. One great benefit of using blogs is that it provides a voice for many students that you may not normally hear from in the traditional classroom discussion. This platform can provide students a chance to comment on ideas and concepts in class, work on a problem, or merely vent or share ideas and thoughts.

The use of blogs can be an empowering medium in your classroom. Students also have the ability to share with peers not only in your classroom but beyond. The key is to start at a point you are comfortable with and go from there. A couple of great places to set up you own blog are blogger (http://www.blogger.com) and edublogs (http://edublogs.org/). Thanks for your time and remember to innovate, inspire, and collaborate.

Welcome to Tech Talk With Dean

Hi and welcome to 'Tech Talk with Dean'. This is blog is set up to be a companion to my articles in the Saskatchean Teachers Federation Bulletin. I will post and archieve articles submitted here and hopefully provided a place where discussion and sharing occur. Thanks for your time and remember to innovate, inspire, and collaborate.