Lesson 8 Time for Reflection 2

I could get lost in the technology we have available to us today. The Wiki's and the Delicious accounts are very useful and interesting sites. The wiki could be a fun way to get the class or multiple classes involved in a project. The Delicious site looks like an excellent way to network and collaborate with other professionals. For me personally the blog is probably my tool of choice. As a Teaching Assistant I am not involved in much planning with classroom teachers. I may be in four or more different content areas in one day so to help plan for those classes is just not feasible.
A blog would be a way for me to connect with friends and family that live out of state. I could add my delicious link to my blog for them to explore.
If I was responsible for creating lessons and finding engaging activities for students I think that the Delicious account would be most beneficial because like Lori has stated "the collective knowledge of many is equal to so much more than the single knowledge of one."

Wikis in Education

Websites and Blogs can contain useful information from one author. Generally a blog is biased because it's that one person's ideas and thoughts. Although it can be functional in a classroom. A wiki on the other hand can have many authors and could be used as a project assignment that involves group work.. This could not only be used for one classroom but for several classes and or schools to collaborate on. It could also be expanded on from year to year.

Free Online Video Resources

These video sharing sites provide quite a range of information and resources. There is so many resources available, these sites help sort it out for the busy teacher.
The ideas behind Next Vista are admirable; the free online library is a great concept. The site was easy to navigate but unless I missed something it seems quite limited. I did find some information pertinent to a project one of my summer school kids is working on. I am working with 7th and 8th grade students and the video on communism would be a great resource for their research.
TeacherTube has a multitude of great videos. Navigating the sight was easy enough. It would however be helpful if they were broken up into categories according to subject and grade level. Back to my summer school class, we have a student who is reluctant to participate in some of our activities and these videos might engage him. I think I will try teacher tube when we have the computer lab tomorrow, I’ll let you know how it goes.
I am not a big fan of YouTube only because there are so many inappropriate videos on it and it takes me forever to find the videos that apply to the subject I am working on. There are however pertinent videos and I have seen them used in a global and science classroom setting.
Clipblast is another good site which has videos categorized well and is easily navigable. The best part about Clipblast is that it has videos from the other sites just easier to find. Clipblast would be a great way to find current events and a given topic. The one annoying glitch is that you have to watch commercials before your clips, but they are free.
My two favorite sites are Clipblast and TeacherTube.