Friday, March 14, 2014

Blog Post #8

21st century teaching tools
What are some 21st century communicating tools?
As technology evolves so does our ways of communication. Today's technology allows us to reach someone across the world in just moments. Some 21st century communication tools include:
  • Email
  • Text message
  • Instant message
  • Podcast
  • Google Hangout
  • Skype
  • Facetime
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

What are some 21st century learning tools?
There are more ways to learn besides sitting in a classroom. Some 21st century learning tools include:
  • YouTube
  • Discovery Ed
  • iCurio
  • Khan Academy
  • Teaching Channel

Khan Academy


Khan Academy
Most of these tools are free and can be easily downloaded to your smartphone. Students, teachers and parents can access these tools at anytime as long as they have the internet. Some of these tools are used in our everyday lives such email, text message and facebook. With the power of technology students and parents can contact a teacher with any concerns they have outside of the classroom. Discovery Education and iCurio are filtered search engines for students to use while researching information. The students can use YouTube, Khan Academy and Teaching Channel to view instructional videos to familiarize themselves with additional information. One tool that really interest me was Khan Academy. It is a free tool made available for everyone. Students, teachers, parents, lifelong learners or anyone interested can access this website. Khan Academy is loaded with instructional videos of any subject. There are math tutorials, test preps, and information on computer programing. For the students studying a particular area of math they have a tab filled with many missions, or task, to complete. The teacher and parent can view the students learning flow at anytime. This tool is a great recourse for students to access from home if they need additional help. Since I discovered Khan Academy I have used it several times to fortify my math skills learned in class.



What use of technology will I use in my classroom?
"Flipped learning starts with one question: What is the best use of your face-to-face class time?"-John Bergmann
After watching all of Katie Gimbar's videos I fell in love with the idea of flipping the classroom. Ninety percent of class time is composed of lecture from the teacher and ten percent of class time is composed of application. Throughout my whole school experience I have found this statement to be completely true. When I get home it is up to me to apply everything I have learned in class to the problems assigned. Most of the time this means I will have to research the information over again because I do not know how to apply the information learned. Flipping the classroom is designed to flip that percentage so that ten percent is spent on reviewing material and ninety percent is spent on applying the material. The teachers record the lessons in advance and assign the videos to be watched the night before class. The students come prepared with questions and ready to apply what they have already learned. All students learn at a different pace so the videos can be watched over again until they understand the material. I will be teaching math so, this is an excellent way to free up time spent in the classroom on lecturing. This allows the teacher to prepare group activities and peer to peer learning. The teacher is also able to spend additional time with students that may be struggling. Parents can also get involved and watch the videos with their children to see what they are learning.


Flipped Classroom models rely heavy on technology
Katie Gimbar's Flipped Classroom-FAQ

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