meL’s Word

During my daily travels on the web and through edtech journals, I am always finding new tools (I especially like the free ones…).  Then I try to figure out which teacher can best use the new thing and come up with some ideas.  Recently I sent the link to GoAnimate to our middle school TAG teacher.  Her students loved it!  They have created historical and political animations.  One grade used it to create recycling commercials. 

Another tool I ran across and passed along to a lot of teachers was Pocketmod.  It calls itself the free, recylable personal organizer, but I saw it as a wonderul way to make pocket-sized study guides.  The TAG students used it to create storybooks for kindergarden and first grade students.  A sixth grade science class used it to create study sheets for their benchmark exams.

I just got finished viewing David Warlick’s Our Students – Our Worlds presentation on Slideshare.  I hadn’t seen it before, but it runs along the same vein as Did You Know? and other similar thought-provoking presentations and videos.  Then I got to wondering – what would happen if teachers actually viewed these?  I know there are always going to be the “non-believers” in our midst.  Would seeing any of these make a difference.  I watch them and think “preaching to the choir.”

I recently ran across a powerful quote (in T.H.E. Journal) – “If we don’t start teaching the way our kids think and play today, we will continue to keep the entire nation behind in developing the innovative, first-to-market, high-tech tools of tomorrow.” (Lisa Wilson, The Mentoring Center)  And yet there are still teachers who refuse to incorporate technology in their classes.  These teachers rarely check their email, they attend any required training with a bad attitude – you know, the one that says “I am only here because you made me” – the one that will block an open mind.

What can be done about it?  What do I do about it?

Okay, so the 30 Days to Better Blogging is over – and the last time I posted was day 16.  It is official, I am a slacker.  I can make excuses – “those last days weren’t meant for me,” or “the last challenges weren’t something I am prepared to do.”  But I won’t, you can read between the lines.  I did learn some things, and perhaps when this blog gets bigger and better I’ll employ some of those things.