Verb Scavenger Hunt!

Website for Austin East

After learning how to make a website using Google Sites I have decided to try to make a site of my own.  I work for the Austin East football team, and have noticed for a long time the lack of having a good website (like most schools have).  I have taken it upon myself to make a site for the team.  I created a site as a rough draft to run by the coaches.  It is called AE football test site.  I ran the test site by the coaches and they really liked it.  They just wanted a couple of things to be changed up a bit, which I am currently working on for the real site.  I will blog about the real site once I get it up and running.

Collection

Lesson Planning

The lesson plan with technology was without a doubt the most practical thing that we have done in class so far.  I have really enjoyed everything we have learned, it was just cool to see how some of it might look in the classroom.  It was not too difficult to come up with a topic, and it was actually kind of fun to come up with a way to use technology with it.

One idea that I really like is having a classroom wiki.  A wiki could more than anything just be a common place for students to get together and work.  Instead of having to give out thousands of papers and handouts throughout the year, working on a wiki could really help with collaboration amongst students.

This assignment also really got me thinking about different ways to use technology in my classroom.  It has really hit me that there are so many options!  And they honestly are not that difficult to implement, I am excited about planning my classes with technology.

Twitter!

I absolutely love twitter.  Most of all I find it to be very entertaining (my twitter id is natkscott so follow me!).  I got a twitter basically because all of my friends did and they said it was fun, so I gave it a shot.  At first I found it to be kind of pointless.  Why did I care when my friends were bored with doing homework? But the more I used it the more I liked it.  It was especially useful over the summer when I was curious as to what my friends may be up to but actually did not want to go into an all out text conversation about it.  I also really like following certain celebrities, mainly Conan O'Brian and sports stars.  I think it is really interesting to see what they like to tweet about.  Some of them are really interesting and talk about behind the scenes stuff that is really cool, while others are kind of lame to follow.

I had never really thought of using Twitter in the classroom cause I was not sure how useful it would be.  One use would be for it to update students on homework and stuff everyday.  There could be a classroom twitter that I could control, and then tweet updates on homework and reminders everyday.  The students could then have it sent to their phone so they would be sure to get it.  How cool would that be?  Twitter is definitely something I will consider using in the classroom.  But not my own personal twitter account, I would create a classroom account.  I would not really want my students to know what I was doing all the time.

Inquiry Based Learning vs. WebQuests

There are obviously positives to both of these technologies in the classroom.  In many ways, I feel like WebQuests would be better for younger students and inquiry based learning better for older students.  Younger students are more prone to enjoy the way a WebQuest works, especially when they are cheesy and make you act like you are someone else.  For some reason I do not see High School seniors being all that crazy about WebQuests, they would not be into it as much.  A WebQuest often times takes a lot of imagination which is much stronger for younger people.  However high school students would probably thrive in the inquiry based learning because there is a set goal for it, and it is actually obvious what you are learning.  I still see ways that they can both be useful in my class.  When I want something a little more epic and to get the entire class involved I would probably do a WebQuest.  On the other hand inquiry based learning seems like it will be better when I want them to work as individuals and learn on their own.

WebQuests!

My experience with WebQuests so far has been very mixed.  There are certain aspects of it that I think could be very useful in my classroom, but other parts just seem like they would give me a headache.  I like the fact that they get students thinking and using technology.  To do a WebQuest (at least one I would choose for my classroom) would require the students to think critically.  Most of the WebQuests I saw also required them to use technology beyond just being on the website (like the one that required students to create Facebook pages for all the characters of Romeo and Juliet...hilarious).

I am a little cautious though because a WebQuest seems to present the opportunity for students to get very off task, especially if they do not enjoy the WebQuest that we are doing.  It is highly unlikely that there are many WebQuests out there that an entire classroom would all love.  That means that while there are certain students who would love the WebQuest assignment, others would loathe it.  I would just tell them to suck it up and do the work, but the fact that they are on a computer gives them the opportunity to do other things without me knowing about it.

Overall, if there was a WebQuest that my entire class would enjoy I would probably do it.  I am sure they would enjoy doing something interactive and using technology, the key is just to provide one that they would actually get something out of it.