Friday, April 20, 2012

(15) Final Thoughts

As I was looking for an article to discuss for my last post I realized that everything I was interested in had been discussed in my prior blogpost.  I ventured over to Teacher Tube to see if there was any videos recently posted and I found two that truly epitomized the beauty of being a teacher in an age where technology is so accessible and useful!

I uploaded two related videos that were on Teacher Tube to illustrate the two examples.

Literature Circles:
Figurative Language Rap:

As an educator, I think it so wonderful that we have resources such as these.  Websites like Teacher Tube and YouTube are twofold in the fact the they offer a place for teachers to observe teaching strategies in action as well as offer a venue for our students to present their knowledge.  These outlets redefine the classroom as an interactive environment and invites improvement.  Teachers do not have to exert any extreme effort to reach out for new ideas and strategies when Internet searches are so available for us use.  In the same fashion, students search for knowledge has no restraints and the borders of the classroom are now invisible.  It is liberating and exciting to imagine myself and my future students engaging with content using different mediums.  My hope is that my classroom is framed around the power of technology and my students never feel held back from their quest of knowledge.  I hope we all eventually find a place to teach that allows us to incorporate the vast educational technology options to assist us in translating our content areas in meaningful ways that allow our students to succeed.  Good Luck!

2 comments:

  1. Katie,
    TeacherTube is awesome. I will definitely find myself using it once I am in the classroom. I feel that it can invigorate a lesson because it provides a physically different dynamic to certain materials that we are teaching our students. It will not only give them something to look at visually but will help reshape the content we are teaching them to make it more transformative and meaningful. I enjoyed the Figurative Language Rap. Nice choice. Kids are pretty resilient. Their acting skill are hilarious too.

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  2. Katie,

    I have told so many of our classmates in my comments how much I love TeacherTube. I also really love the teaching channel, they have lesson plans there that you can incorporate in the classroom. I loved the videos you uploaded on your blog because for english teachers literature circles work SO well. I love literature circles because students are able to teach one another what they know, students are more inclined to learn from one another, and students produce such fabulous results when they are working in groups. I like having roles for each student because it makes him or her feel very important. I think literature circles really help students open their eyes to things they never realized prior to the experience. Your post reminds me just how wonderful literature circles can be!

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