Twitter Chat

I participated in two Twitter Chats. I participated in #flipclass and #edtechchat. Both discussions were very beneficial to my classroom instruction. I am looking at incorporating more technology into my classroom and eventually start flipping my math classroom. Many of the tools that were shared are resources that I can use to enhance my teaching approach. I really enjoyed the multiple comments that people were able to make in order to keep the conversation going and contribute to the overall learning. The chats offered different resources to utilize and gave several credible news articles to support using such resources in the classroom. One thing that I found challenging was the fast pace of the tweets. I found myself constantly having to scroll up and down in order to be able to read each tweet and get the useful resources and information I was looking for. Overall, I really enjoyed participating in my Twitter Chats and I feel as though I will continue participating in them in the future.

Blog Post #5

My Professional Learning Network has grown tremendously throughout this course and the other courses that I have taken through the MET program. I continue to add more and more to my network each week and feel more confident utilizing such resources and collaborative tools in my classroom. I feel as though I now have knowledge and expertise to share with others and can collaborate with my Professional Learning Networks through work in order to encourage growth and further exploration of technology and other resources.

Check out the Prezi that I made on my PLN:
http://prezi.com/mtz4dtuj0tem/edit/#26_238900

Blog Post #4

This week we were challenged to join two different resources that could be utilized often in the classroom. I chose to explore and expand upon my previous knowledge of both Facebook and Pinterest.

For the past ten years I have used Facebook consistently. I was a huge Facebook advocate and refused to use other resources such as Twitter. Now that I have opened my eyes to other resources, I have realized the educational benefit behind many of these sites. Facebook can be used for social purposes, but it can also be used to collaborate and communicate with others in order to expand one's understanding. There are many "pages" and links that you can like and join in order to explore various topics and be a part of the social network. I feel like Facebook can be useful in the classroom, but I think that Twitter is a better educational tool and I am very glad I have the opportunity to explore this resource throughout this course.

The second resource I explored was Pinterest. I have been on Pinterest before but mainly for planning my wedding and picking up new recipes. So this week I decided to explore the category of education and I was completely amazed at the ideas, lessons, and practices that were supplied for any teacher to use. Their were great ideas of how to get students motivated and engaged in the classroom instruction. I found a lot of resources that pertained to English Language Learners and students with special needs. One of the resources that I found most useful was Teachers Pay Teachers.  This website offers to ability to pay or download other teacher's work, lessons, and resources in order to enhance your classroom. Their are hands-on activities and interactive resources that can promote student learning. I love the idea that some resources are free and available for immediate download and others can be paid for in order to not have to "reinvent the wheel". I also love the resource of Khan Academy. This is a resource that would be most useful in my mathematics classroom so students can watch videos of the content we have covered in order to reinforce topics or gain another perspective on the lecture. Overall, I think that Pinterest is an amazing tool that has wonderful opportunities for classroom improvement. I cannot wait to start utilizing these sites more frequently.