Technology Resources

Of all of the programs we discussed in class last Tuesday, I will probably use the Google products the most in my instructional career.

Googledocs is a fantastic way to create group projects, and to help students who don't like to meet outside of class work on projects together. I for sure will use googledocs to facilitate groupwork and ideas.

The Google Calendar is a great tool as well - although I may use the calendar for my personal teaching use. It is a great place to see lessons and timelines come together. For the class I will have a website (be it a blog or wikispace) that will have a course calendar, course information, and links to online information that furthers class discussion. The nice thing about a blog is that students can comment on it and continue the discussion from class. However, I wonder how many students will want to continue the discussion - typically there has to be points involved for this to happen.

I also like Moodle, a place where I can put all of our documents we'll be reading online so that I'm not always printing copies and the information is all in a central location for students who missed class or are preparing for an exam.

I like the color design website, but I can't find a reason to justify its use in a history or english class. It is a good add-in on projects where students want their posters to be color-coordinated, but I just don't see it as super important in my class.

The MediaNotes website was really cool too - but I wonder how much I can make an 8th grader use it. As a college student I think its beyond amazing, but as a middle schooler? I don't think I'd see the value as much.