Technology is
becoming more and more important to the classroom today. Teachers need to use
technology to teach and get students involved. Teachers should not just lecture
and expect their students to do well in the 21st century. Today in
the 21st century classroom teachers should utilize things like: Jing,
Wordle, Edmodo, and Twitter. That way students will be better prepared to go
into the real world and be able to do well in the 21st century.
Jing
is a tool that teachers can use to take screenshots of something they want
their students to see. They can then edit those screenshots by adding arrows
and text. They can even record themselves talking while they are doing these
things. The video can be up to five minutes long. This video can even be
uploaded or emailed to someone. This is a great way for teachers to use
technology to teach students. This is a video that describes how to use Jing.
Www.wordle.net is a free website that teachers
and students can use to create pictures using words that you type in. It then
creates a picture with all of the words in different colors, shapes, fonts and
size. Wordle selects the words that appear the most frequently to decide which
words to use. You can change the Wordle by using different colors,
orientations, fonts, and colors. You can then share these Wordles with the
class, or the students can share their Wordles with the other students. This
would be a great way to get to know students at the beginning of the year. They
could tell the class about themselves and what they like to do using a Wordle. Students
could also use Wordle to decorate their class notebooks, and jazz up other
class projects. This is an example of a Wordle from the US Constitution. 
Www.edmodo.com is a great place for teachers
with older students to create a classroom website that all of the students can
access and post to. Thisis a video on what Edmodo is, and how to use it. Edmodo is a little bit
like Facebook, but it is much more safe and secure. The teacher has to give the
students and their parents a code to even access the page. Teachers and
students can “connect and collaborate, share content and educational
applications, and access homework, grades, class discussions
and notifications.” Edmodo is a great way for students to submit homework, take
quizzes, and see the calendar of when everything is due. They just have to
upload their homework to a link on the classroom page and then the teacher can
see it and grade it. The student will then get a notification that their
homework has been graded and then they can see their grades. Edmodo also has an
app that teachers, students and parents can download so they can get real time
updates with their homework and grade updates. 
Twitter is
another great tool that teachers can use to interact with their students
outside of the classroom. Twitter is a “real time information network that
connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you
find interesting.” Teachers can tweet about interesting things that are
happening in their classroom. They can share links to things that they want
their students or parents to see in the community. If teachers do want to use Twitter
in the classroom, it may be a good idea for them to create a new Twitter account
for their students to see, and one for their private life. This way it will be
harder to mix business with their personal thought, opinions, and ideas. Twitter
works well as an opinion poll for the class; it can also help direct students
to good articles and ideas. Here is alink on ways to use Twitter in Elementary schools. I think that if teachers
are going to use Twitter, then they should be extra careful with what they
tweet about and follow. They can get in a lot of trouble if they make one false
move on Twitter. I think that Twitter is a better tool for college students.
When I start
to teach I think that my choice of technology in the classroom would be Edmodo.
Edmodo is a great tool for both teachers and students. It is user friendly, collaborative,
and it is an online grade book. Parents can also use Edmodo with a special
parent code. That way everyone is informed and up to date with that is going
on. I also think that Jing is a great tool to use in the classroom. If you are
trying to show students how to navigate a webpage it is probably going to be
more helpful to create a Jing video to show them so you can walk around and
make sure they are on the right step than it would be to show them then and
there how to do it. It is important that teachers are very careful with all of
the technology they use in the classroom. Technology is an important aspect in
the 21st century classroom so teachers should adapt and use
technology to teach their students as many ways as they can.
