Microblogging

This is a great tool for use in the classroom. First, microblogging provides students with the opportunity to make points or ask questions during class discussions without having to speak in front of the whole class. This tool could encourage more participation from students who would typically shy away from contributing to class discussions. Second, it provides a record of student learning for the days' lesson. Not only can teachers assess the strength of their own teaching by reviewing student comments and questions, they can also use the records as a formal, but authentic method of assessment. For example, this can be done by having students collaborate after class and at home to analyze and react to a reading. Last, it is a great tool for students to use to help each other. Microblogging can be set up as a forum for tutoring. By establishing secure pages that restrict the participants to my students only, I can ensure that it is a safe environment for students to focus on homework or conceptual help after class time.

Videos in Class

On the right side of my blog, I have started a list of valuable videos for the classroom. One video that is useful in any content area (especially social studies) is "How to Research with JSTOR," which can be found on teachertube.com. This database is a wonderful source of peer reviewed articles, serving as authoritative sources for any research paper. The video not only introduces what JSTOR is, but it also gives students a step by step tutorial on how to effectively navigate through the site during the research process. It uses a single research topic about Abraham Lincoln's foreign policy to demonstrate how to restrict a search to find articles that are pertinent to the topic. Giving students the opportunity to watch this tutorial will allow them to do better research because they can effectively use technology to focus more on the what useful articles say rather than on the quest to find applicable information.