Blog Post 4: In Defense of Gadgets

Defend your reasoning for choosing the gadgets that you did and how you feel they enhance your blog.

1. TEXT: "A good teacher is like a candle- it consumes itself to light the way for others," this is an inspiring quote for teachers because as an educator your concern should be for your students. It is important that teachers adequately prepare their students so they may continue to succeed, not only in the classroom, but in life. 
2. HTML/JAVA - Visitors Map: It is interesting to see how many different people are viewing my blog and what part of the world they are viewing it from. 
3. FOLLOW BY EMAIL: This gadget gives anyone the ability to follow my blog and postings via email. It can be very useful for parents, students and even other teachers because they will be notified of any updates or changes. 
4. SLIDESHOW: A correlation of elementary school pictures. If I had my own classroom I would make the slideshow of pictures from our classroom and school to display what we have been doing. It is a nice personal touch to the blog and it encourages parents to view the blog so they can view pictures as well. 
5. POLL: I made a poll to see what resources people use for research projects. This is a good tool because I can then use the information to help students find more useful resources for the method they are using. 
6. FOLLOWERS: This application would be a good way for other teachers to link themselves to this blog. That way viewers would also be able to see what other classrooms are doing.

Sustainability Voice Thread

In class we discussed how schools are struggling to create sustainability within the classroom.  It has been hard for schools to keep up with the rapidly changing technology and provide equal funding and education for all schools. Education has begun to reflect the separation of the classes within our society and our separation from the world. On Voice Thread we were presented with a slideshow of pictures that address different issues around Sustainability. Everyone in our class was able to write comments on the pictures relating the picture to sustainability.

To check out the slide show and our class comments click HERE.

Accountability Mind Map

Does technology in education HELP, HURT, or BOTH?