Week 3

Week 3

I read an article that actually wasn't from the blog I've been following but it was a link on the blog I was following and I think I am going to follow this new one now.

The writer makes a case for allowing cellphones into the classroom. I will summarize some of her points here or you can read the full post here.

Today most adults (welll at least those who are tech-savvy) use their phones to organize their daily schedules and meetings. Why should kids not be allowed to do the same? We can teach them from a young age how to organize themselves and their time and as a result be more efficient. We should teach them how to do so with the tools they will eventually be using as adults! Students can plan their after school activities, set reminders about tests and keep lists of homework all from their cellphone!

Have a student use his/her cellphoe for small tasks instead of taking up time on the school's computers

Having cellphones within arms reach but not using the, teaches the students a valuable lesson: self discipline. 

Soon parents are going to demand cellphones in class for safety reasons. Let's learn to utilize them before that happens.  Better to get ahead of the problem that will undoubedly arise in the near future.

On Edudemic, I read a post about how to better use YouTube in the classroom. This right away caught my eye because I sometimes use clips from youtube in my lessons but it's nearly impossible to find the perfect clip to fit your needs.

One suggestion is to crop the video and add your own audio over it. Edpuzzle looks like an awesome and user friendly website that cn help you accomplish that. I haven't tried it myself but the tour makes it look easy.

On TeacherTube, you can find tons of videos with educational content. I also liked Explore. This is a website dedicated to nature videos. Often I find there are units involving animals.  I think a short clip on that animal could be a great hook for the unit. Similar to that is National Geographic.