"Its a Conversation, Not a Lecture..."

In his article, How Twitter will Revolutionize Academic Research and Teaching , Ernesto Priego discusses how Twitter is playing a profound role in the new ways of sharing and receiving information from both the teacher and student. Priego discusses teaching, learning and social networks as "conversations, not lectures." This for me stuck out especially as a language teacher because I am able to understand learning and communicating in another language as a "2-way street", making it necessary for two parties to be involved. He continues his example by making the comparison saying it is not meant to be a "auditorium, but a seminar room." I think that by using hashtags, both teachers and students are able to share various things such as homework assignments for students who have missed class, questions that students may have, or even thoughts, concerns or reminders. One of the best features of a network such as Twitter is that it works in "realtime," constantly updating.
As I read the article, Losing Interest in Social Media , I couldnt help but wonder how I was going to talk about implementing Twitter and other social media sites in my classroom instruction. Afterall, the author uses an entirely sarcastic tone to rip apart the highly praised sites that glorify "friending" and "hashtags". He talks about removal of personalization and authentication of thought and education when we are all reduced to following "tweets" of 140 characters or less. In conclusion, I can see the use of Twitter for minor thoughts, sharing of useful websites, assignments, links to additional activities, or other places of interest, but leaving of more profound and substantial personal information to blogs and individual classroom websites.

Classroom 2.0- The "Face" of Teachers...

Classroom 2.0

This social-networking site is great for teachers of languages. Even from the  "home" page, views are presented with a wide variety of options and opportunities to take advantage of in their classroom. Besides ideas to use within the classroom such as Skype, digital storytelling, back channeling, and Barnes and Noble book clubs, users are able to sign up for notifications, updates, discussions, forums and events. I really enjoyed reading up on different teachers' ideas and input on how to use different resources in multiple ways. There are also links to special interest groups that teachers of all content areas may be interested in.  I was impressed by the Classroom 2.0 Live channel they included that allowed users to view "shows" or videos of recent topics- it reminded me of a similar thing posted on the ACTFL site that I had learned about in my undergrad. This site is like a Facebook for teachers, and just what I needed- a place to find and share ideas with fellows teachers and colleagues. I have always thought that was one of the most beneficial apsects of teaching- that we begin learning as students what learned well for us in the practices of our teachers, and continued to learn from our SBTE's as student teachers and hopefully will inspire our students while we are in our field. This website is great resource and definately one I can see myself using to become more creative in my lesson planning.

Voicethread

Classroom 2.0 Voicethread

Through the use of voicethreads in this class, as well as a brief introduction to them through a library-media specialist, I have been exposed to many of its benefits. I feel that they are great to use in a classroom of any age or content area because they allow the students to be exposed to the content and then leave their own thoughts, opinions or questions when they are done. Many students are hesitant to raise their hand and ask a question in front of their classmates, and this tool allows them to be completely connected to all necessary information and work off of what they have learned. I also feel that the voicethread connects the students and teacher in a sort of "community" type atmosphere- that continues learning and confidence even outside of the classroom.

A Teacher is Like...

A teacher is like the sun...

We stand in front of students, expose them to our "brilliance", let them "soak up" what the information we are attempting to fill them with, and  hope that they are able to feel its (or our) affects later. 
George Siemens  has said, “learning must be a way of being – an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast of the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…" As in the action of "tanning" and exposing ones self to the sun, learning is a a process which develops over time. The more information we expose our students to, the more we hope that they gain both academically and intellectually towards life long situations. This is why I feel that it is important not only to teach our students the basic content area knowledge, but preparing them for the outside world. 
The Impact of Social Software on Learning 
In the video, the speaker says, " Content is a conduit towards conversation. The content leads in to our ability to talk to eachother." This is important because it goes back to my analogy talking about how the student are exposed to the "brilliance" and are "soaking up" the information through different resources. Technology can allow students with social anxities to express themeslves to the teacher and to their fellow students through different forms. It also connects students in new and exciting ways through the content area. This new form of learning will promote skills such as communication that are necessary to have in the post-education world.