Wow! What a concept; entainment in class! I am sure my kids wish I would use some!

"Geek's Guide to Teaching in the Modern Age"

I am totally overwhelmed with all of the technology that is out there. Some of the thing I really like and would love to try (blogs, wikis, podcast). But then there are some that seem like so much more work on top of everything that I'm already doing. I think that technology is a great way to reach kids where they are, but doesn't there come a point when we're just playing into the whole, "Entertain Me" idea? I have issues as it is in my class keeping kids focused and making sure that they are on task. I'm just scared that incorporating too much technology could lead them astray as well. Don't get me wrong, I love some of these things, but where do we draw the line?

How To Link to my United Streaming Assignment

Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher, was the daughter of Irish immigrants. In this assignment, students will build their background knowledge about Irish immigrants into the United States. Students will watch video segments on the Potato Famine and then write a brief, creative essay about how they would handle facing a drastic famine.

I agree!

This is a great way to get all kids engaged!

Wiki...wiki!

I totally love this idea. I have all of my kids use Wikipedia for their little mini-research topics they do at the beginning of each unit. We talk about how we can update information and how important this is because information is constantly changing. However, I also have to caution them that some information may be incorrect.

Funny story...the lady I did my student teaching with was in her early thirties and very "up" on current technology and educational theory. When I tried to use information I found on Wikipedia, she freaked out. That information was found on the Internet and everybody knows that Wikipedia is not reliable. I had to show her that the information I had was the same information off of MSN Encarta. She still seemed very skeptical, but she let me use it!

I would like to use wikis to encourage more creative writing in my class. I think that English teachers get so bogged down with all of the analytical writing and compare and contrast, that we often forget to nurture the creative side of our kids. Wikis could do that for us!