Social Butterflies

  Bringing classroom curriculum online opens a whole new can of worms, one of them being social media. Many adults communicate with friends and colleagues through sites like Facebook and Twitter, but opening these platforms of communication for students could bring a new dynamic.
  Many young adults have already had experience with social media through Facebook and Twitter as a means of keeping up on the latest with friends.  To use these media sites for educational purposes would take some training.  Even adults post what's on their mind on these sites without much thought, so teaching students to make meaningful, appropriate posts would take modeling and practice.  Some students may find it hard to not mix "business with pleasure".
  The ease of communication through these sites is extremely convenient for a class of any kind.  These social media sites can allow and encourage students to collaborate and discuss ideas.  They can update and remind others of assignments and material.  Using these media sites could bring an ease of communication for classroom students, as long as proper etiquette is followed.

Putting Good To Use

  As I monotonously mention in almost every post, online learning pulls out so many new tools and programs that I never knew existed!  After having the chance to explore, I feel almost giddy about the new resources I have learned about and will soon be putting to good use.  Some of the latest exploration brought out tools for curating curriculum.

  One tool I looked at was Learnist.  Just by browsing the list of potential reads, I already felt supported in my journey towards digital curriculum.  In a Pinterest format, articles about concepts such as gathering data and using new technology tools were readily available from other educators. I know now that I can frequent this site for new ideas or "how-tos".

  Another tool that I tried out was Bag The Web.  This was an awesome way to not only store great websites for professional use, but organize student resources.  I found that this particular site was very easy to navigate and could be used effortlessly by both parents and students for resources.  In the future, I will be able to collect and post valuable websites for parents to use for extra information and practice at home.  I can also sort through websites that are the most beneficial for students to use during a unit or specific assignment.

  As I continue on this online learning exploration, I progressively find more fantastic teaching tools to use with my current curriculum, all the while transitioning to greater digital use.  I am starting to wonder how I will be able to choose among them all!

Making Ideas Come To Life

  For a technology rookie, spending six weeks in a technology course can be almost overwhelming.  There are so many things to remember; online standards, transitioning curriculum, authentic assessments, project possibilities, tools, tools, tools!  I have learned more already than I thought I would be able to apply to my second grade classroom.
  The booming numbers of awesome programs to use are the most applicable for me and my thirty eager pupils.  Making the transition to a more technologically savvy curriculum is made easy by the apps and websites available on the web.  Teaching kids to research, store their ideas, and present to others is a real life idea that better prepares them for the future.  I cannot wait to give each of the new programs a try!
  When sorting through all that surrounds online learning, I realize that taking the full curriculum online would not be possible for us just yet.  We, as a school system, are still acquiring the tools for 1:1 access.  We also need to educate ourselves on the possible programs that accompany those tools before bringing them into the classroom.  We still have many years of transitioning our classrooms to blended learning before taking on a completely online approach.
  Technology brings forth a whole new bag of tricks that are waiting to be opened.  I look forward to opening the bag and watching the future of teaching change.