Digital Badge F

As a teacher, I can see myself using emails and maintaining a classroom website.  Emails can be an effective and easy tool to use to communicate with parents and students.  It can inform parents of upcoming conferences or important assignments which they might have not been aware.  As my kids were going to school, notes that were supposed to have been brought home sometimes seemed to have disappeared.  A classroom website is important to continue the learning process when the kids are at home.  But how do you make a classroom website interesting so it will engage the kids and inform the parents?  According to Scholastic.com, the website Weebly for education is simple and easy to use, and allows teachers to create an impressive classroom website.   There is so much useful information that could be included for both students and parents.  The website could include spelling words, information on where to find research material for an upcoming history project as well as supplies that are needed or a place for students to show off their hard work to their parents and other students.  The possibilities are endless.  I believe the main reasons for having and maintaining a website is to reemphasize what was taught in class each day, to keep the learning process going even after the school day has ended and to keep the parents up to date and involved in their children’s education.  

On page 191, the textbook explains how important it is to keep the students engaged academically.  But many students often times get bored or just do not understand because they learn differently than how the lesson is being taught.  As I am working my way through college, I have found that after listening to a lecture, it is helpful to review the power points that have been posted on Canvas along with my notes to recall important information or to rethink a particular idea.  In this article, Big Thinkers: Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner explains how technology allows students the opportunity to learn in his or her own way and “if the technology is interactive, the child will actually be able to show his or her understanding of the material.”  This can be done with questions that require the student to give an in-depth response about a particular topic.      

From page 212 in the textbook, book reports can be a boring and dreaded activity for students.  But with the use of technology, there are ways teachers can bring book reports back to life.  Each student could have their own blog, which is a good opportunity to allow students to be creative with choosing background color and design.  Their blogs become the place for writing out their book reports with each new post.  The students could also draw a picture to illustrate a favorite part of the book and add it to their blog.  Written feedback from other students would also be encouraging as this makes writing more important and meaningful.      

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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