Webquest - Week of Feb. 11-March 4

Webquests...that was our assignment this week.  We started the process of becoming familiar with them by looking at numerous websites that features different examples.  The three main sites I focused on were www.zunal.com, www.webquest.org, and www.questgarden.com.   I just looked at my watch and I am shocked that I have been sitting here for 3 hours looking at these fascinating and intriguing examples!!!  I am amazed at the huge variety that teachers have.  There is everything from the very basic to extremely complex and detailed.  I found one that I was particularly drawn to that I used to complete my Webquest worksheet.  I am looking forward to building our own Project Based Google Site.


Here is the link to my Webquest I created
Laine's Webquest-Friends

Google in Education. Week of Feb. 4-11

   This week we were assigned to explore and discover more of what Google is all about.  I really had fun learning about the Google Slide Presentation tools and created my first Google Slide Show.  This is yet another fun way to present ideas to students instead of using a Power Point presentation.  I found this format easier to use but a bit more basic than Prezi which we had prior experience on.  I think that the Google Slide Presentation would be a wonderful way for my future students to also create a presentation to share a little bit about themselves and to introduce themselves to the classroom.
 

Blogging Discussion Questions. Week of Jan 28 - Feb. 4

   This week our assignment was to answer the following Blogging Discussion Questions:

1. How can you use blogs in your classroom? Remember - blogging can contain video recording, this is normally called vlogging.
2. Where or how will blogs fit into your curriculum?
3. What is the purpose of blogging in the classroom?

     As a future educator, I am so excited by just some of the possibilities to incorporate blogging into the classroom.  Here are just a few examples.  Create a blog to communicate class/school information with parents. Post field trip information, field trip forms, parent helper calendars, general classroom guidelines and more.  Create a blog with daily lessons listed for students who are sick or gone.  I can use a blog to showcase individual art projects throughout the year.  Create a blog where students share stories about their favorite holiday, or a blog about special holiday traditions in their family.
  
   Blogging can be incorporated into the curriculum in a similar manner any writing or research assignment is applied.  For example, I could post a daily writing prompt that students can access and respond to in the blog. They can read their classmates responses, and learn to develop their own ideas. I can even have the students respond to each other’s posts to encourage the students to expand their ideas by responding to their classmate’s questions.

     There are numerous purposes and benefits of blogging in the classroom.  Here are just a few examples.  It is highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms. It is an excellent opportunity for students to read and write.  It is also an effective forum for collaborating and discussion.  Blogging also serves as a powerful tool to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur.