Teacher Prep Tech

Teachers modeling the ability to fully utilize the newest technologies can help students have confidence in their own abilities to do so. I would use wwww.xtranormal.com. I love this web 2.0 tool for the many interesting ways that it could help motivate my students to be creative and explore the designing technologies that are so easy to use. I would use this tool to create movies to add a new and personalized dimension to my lessons. I would use this tool to practice social cognitive theory - I think it would make a great small group project. It is affordable and the level of proficiency required to use it appeared to be grade school level friendly, which is perfect for my purposes, and my own comfort level with computers at my age! There is information for educators that states that one account ties in the teacher, all the students that she allows access, and the room administrator. They seem to have really thought out how to make it appealing and simple.

As an instructional assistant for 9th grade safety net math, I highly value and recommend Khan Academy. In regards to the social cognitive theory, Khan Academy provides learners with the opportunity to observe specific math lessons as many times as they want. Then they can apply that knowledge to a variety of exercises testing their knowledge in a fun and exciting way. Khan Academy provides the student and teacher immediate assessment and tracking of all work completed. It shows students where they are proficient, and where they still need practice. It is a free site that really incorporates principles of the social cognitive theory and provides accurate assessment which is vital for the learner to self-regulate and set attainable goals.

www.khanacademy.org

There are multiple different web 2.0 tools that would be a great way of modeling but some great ones can be found in the different community tools such as wikispaces.com, PB Works, creativecommons.com. These tools allow users to share their ideas through different things like private wiki posts, collaborative learning tools and the ability to share and remix different types of media. All of these tools allow the teacher and student to practice cognitive apprenticeship, which allows the student and teacher to work together to solve challenging problems. All of these tools can be found on http://web2012.discoveryeducation.com .

Web 2.0 tools provide a great resource for students and teachers to interact. Providing opportunities for learning to become negotiable allows students to become cognitively involved in the learning process. With this social interaction the teacher is able to first model for the student who can then add their own thoughts and ideas to the lesson. I went to this site called Cool Tools for Schools which provided a list of various web 2.0 tools you could utilize. Many of these tools are interactive and could be accessed within the classroom and worked on together or could be accessed by students on their own time. I actually chose my web 2.0 tool from this website to use for my last Theory Application Product. http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools

Web 2.0 is a great resource for students and teachers. It is a fun hands on approach to learning. It also can be used as a social networking tool. Web 2.0 allows the teacher, students, and peers to share their ideas and interact with one another. It is also a great way for a student to be creative in the lesson.

http://techlearning20.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+Tools+for+Social+Studies

As a person who has not had much experience with Web 2.0 tools, I can tell you that I have struggled a bit when using these tools. Today, I understand the importance of learning how to use these tools so that I am better prepared when teaching my own students how to use them. Using Web 2.0 tools, although somewhat challenging at first, can create fun and interactive ways to engage students in learning. They can help students self-regulate by keeping track of their progress at school using one of the many tools available to them. I found many great Web 2.0 tools here: http://web2012.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools-presentation.cfm

Here's a link to my Mind42.com Web 2.0 on Social Cognitive Learning Theory:

http://mind42.com/pub/mindmap?mid=5a718007-f566-4449-8fd9-1f46d7921f46&rel=url

The web 2.0 tool called Slide Rocket is really a lot of fun and has a very helpful way of adding more interactive features to a slide presentation, than that of powerpoint. Powerpoint seems a bit outdated and boring and Slide Rocket offer great ways of being more in control of what you can do with you presentation. The interface is also a lot easier to use with all of the tool being right in front of you. Videos are imbedded in a more interesting fashion and it truly allows a more through presentation to be made with Audio, Visual and Text all being able to be delivered in equal quality allowing learners of all types to understand and comprehend as the material that is being presented. It is a free web tool that can be accessed online which is great because students that have computers at home or spend time in computer labs at school will be able to use this tool and learn it. It can be accessed if students have a gmail account which is great because it starts to show students how this tool already relates to them and how easy it is to get started by using an account that has already been created. There is also a great Interactive tour that show beginner's how to use the tool and it is very hands on meaning the tour has you "do" in order to learn.

http://app.sliderocket.com/app/sliderocket.aspx#o

http://web2education.wetpaint.com/

Their welcome page reads this,"This wiki is dedicated to finding the best possible Web 2.0 sites for K-12 teachers, and discussing the possible uses of these sites by educators".
It has easy edit tools and is also user friendly and offers a direct link to many other tools for teacher to build their own websites or build it together with students.
These sites should enhance student learning and teacher productivity.

I decided to focus my posts on issues related to English Language learners. Although education has made progress in terms of providing services for English learners, I argue that many of these practices and policies may serve to marginalize this group of students.

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