My ideas:
1. I would love to have video "pen-pals" for a classroom. The students could read a book and share a book study. I think it would be an incredible experience to see how children of another culture view the same book. Another project could be to collect and compare data. For example, favorite ice cream flavors or favorite colors.
2. Collaboration between teachers via skype or elluminate or a similar system would be beneficial for teachers. The common core standards will be put in place next year in 48 states. A staff development session that includes teachers from districts across the country who are implementing the plan would be fantastic. One of the advantages of implementing these standards is the possibility for collaboration between teachers. Collaboration within a school building produces wonderful results; collaboration between teachers in other states would be incredible.
As a society, we have only begun to scratch the surface of what we can accomplish using telecommunications. It is indeed an exciting time to be alive!
I really like your idea about collaboration with teachers. Would they be more likely to participate if it was simply online. The other good think is that it could be synchronous or asynchronous. You can continue to share ideas with a community of teachers with very little effort.
ReplyDeleteI also remembered that commercial with Ellen Paige and loved the idea. I think there was also something with a doctor that wasn't really in the office but was seeing patients. The possibilities are really endless.
Oh you're blog this week as me excited! Yes, it is a great time to be involved in all this exciting and interesting new technology for the classroom:) Love the Skype Pen-Pals, how cute is that. I remember doing Pen-Pals in elementary schools, writing letters, waiting weeks for responses....With Skype, communication is instantaneous. And I am a HUGE fan of teacher collaboration. There should be monthly teleconferences for different subjects and grade levels to allow teachers to share exiting ideas and lesson plans using technology. Wouldn't it be awesome to hear that?
ReplyDeleteWow! I love the enthusiasm and the genuineness of your post this week! Yes, it is an amazing time to be alive and to be in education. I love the first idea about 'pen pals' and sharing ideas with students from different cultures. And to be able to do so easily is an amazing thing to be able to do. It is truly a small world today!
ReplyDeleteCarla, it is very interesting that you actually wrote the essay about telecommunication! I like your discussion about how different telecommunication tools can be used for both students and teachers. For the video pen-pals project, do students actually get to see each other who share a book study vis webcam?
ReplyDelete