It's a New World

            When I think about technology and the ways I use it, I rarely make a list but after reading chapter 5 and 6, I was reminded just how much technology is in use in my daily routine as a teacher. I originally kept my scope to what I was doing instructionally but I needed a reminder that is used in more ways everyday. I have been using technology since I was a child but as an adult it has definitely taken on a different form or forms. I think the first real type of technology I used for my students beyond word-processing and the electronic gradebook, was a puzzle maker. I remember wanting to do something more with my vocabulary words than the usual and I wanted it to be fun. A crossword puzzle was my answer. It may sound mundane but students are happier to do that and still learn and interact with the words in that way instead of defining them. This activity was never the end to end all but I liked it and it was a different way to get students to learn. Web quests are the second thing that came to mind for me as my “go to” when I wanted to really layer my learning styles and heighten the thinking skills. I remember using the web quest matrix that Dr. Powers asked us to use and this was years ago, to find something for the Humanities class I was teaching at the time. I found a great quest on the matrix about Egypt and Tutankhamen’s death that was a great bridge to introducing my students to archaeology and the importance of history. It seems like students sometimes do not understand why we study the past so much and you have to bring the meaning to them and the web quest was a perfect match! The students loved the web quest and did understand a bit better what the purpose was in the long run. I was not surprised that they are still in use and have become even more sophisticated then when I used one the last time.   

            I had never even heard of glogster before last week but I was willing to give it a try! I have only used power point a handful of times but I am not a newbie to using technology so I thought I would be able to use glogster but when I could not get the tutorial to work, I just decided to create a power point presentation about my favorite poem. The sound did not work in the drop box, though I am not sure why, so sorry that the nature sounds I added only worked elsewhere! I am glad that there are new tools to use in the classroom and I look forward to using them, especially when they elevate my instruction and make it more engaging!