New Tools

This week in class was all about finding new resources and tools to use in the classroom. I was super excited about many of the ones I found! After being in the same district for a few years, and gaining comfort with units I have created, I feel like it is time to freshen things up. Last week I created a prezi, which was a lot of fun. As I was making it, I was thinking of ways I could have my students use prezis in class. This week I worked with Glogster and made a Glog. Although I feel that my first attempt at a glog wasn't my best work, I can see where glogs could be incorporated in some of my current units, my autobiography unit to be specific. I also found a few website that offered interactive help on grammar, punctuation, and MLA citations. One of my biggest goals for taking this course was to find new resources to help in the classroom, and that is exactly what I am doing. I've also learned ways that cell phones could be used academically in the classroom, which is quite fascinating. I just wish the district I worked for was more willing to allow cell phones for appropriate uses in the classroom.

This week was also my first summer book group meeting with some English teachers in a area districts. We've been doing this four about four years now, I think. After discussing the book, I shared that I was taking a class on teaching online classes. I talked about Prezi and Glogster, and the rest of the group was really interested. I sent them the links to play around with both programs. I was surprised at how excited I sounded talking about these new programs. It's JUNE! And I"m already thinking about all the ways I want to update, polish, and change my units for this coming fall.

Here's my Glog for the course: http://walshh.glogster.com/core-beliefs-on-effective-online-training-/