For my first blog review, I did some reading of The Tech Savvy Educator: http://www.techsavvyed.net/
Ben Rimes, who calls himself a TechSavvyEd Blogger, is a K-12 Technology Coordinator for Mattawan Consolidated School District in Michigan
I was totally intrigued by his blog because of the challenge he brings to educators to learn more about technology, but, especially, because he teaches how to use technology in the classroom in a very practical way. Teachers can very easily find archived blogs and video teaching clips for many subjects, including Art, English, Language arts, music, Social Studies, Science, and even Assessment. As an example, for Art, I found instruction on creating an online photo gallery of student work, creating classroom posters, simplifying stories into icons, and using the app “Echograph” on an iPad.
Under the archived blogs for Assessment, I was most intrigued by his discussion on the use of Wordle in the classroom. Using the heading, “A Highly Effective use of Wordle in The Classroom,” Ben Rimes talked about how he was often disappointed by all the information on the web which just reinforced ineffective use of technology in the classrooms. He then shared how he was delighted to find Tony Borach’s blog which didn’t just teach students to play with word clouds but to begin a discussion about magnets and create a word play as a pre-test. Later, after a lesson and sharing experiences, these students were encouraged to create another word cloud that would reflect the learning. http://tborash.posterous.com/designing-lessons-using-wordle
I appreciated how Ben Rimes was very willing to share any practical application he had found.
Ben Rimes’ edublog post - “3 Ways to Use Wordle for More Than Fluff” - is revelatory! I know there are all sorts of new teaching apps out there now, but I did not know this one existed. For a ‘not-so-tech-savvy’ educator as myself, I found his overview of Wordle very descriptive and very helpful. Applications like Wordle, Word Clouder, and Word Map Free! take the concept of semantic mapping (word webbing) to a whole new level, and can be integrated into lessons across the curriculum. (I immediately thought of introducing Wordle as an alternative to the traditional written brainstorming in English class.) This type of learning is extremely visual, practical, and creative, and would appeal to, as Rimes puts it, the “21st century educational mindset” (i.e. our students). I can definitely see myself, and my students, using Wordle in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAs a quick FYI, the post referenced above has since been moved, now that Posterous no longer houses content. Here's the new link: http://tborash.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/designing-lessons-using-wordle/
ReplyDeleteHope your continued exploration has proven fruitful!