Motivation....

I think a lot of students at every grade level, at one point or another, struggle with motivation. Sometimes it is very hard for students to see the need in knowing how to do long division correctly. I was one of those students who felt that Math wasn't that important. We have calculators now, for crying out loud! As a second or third grader, I couldn't see the big picture and realize that I may not always have a calculator handy when I need to figure out a problem. However, if I had a short term goal that I wanted to reach and I had to learn long division to reach that goal, I was all for figuring out what my quotient and remainder would be. If teachers and parents work together to set immediate goals that can be met by the student only by learning a difficult and dreadful task, the student will be more willing to complete the task. Another personal example is of me learning how to ride a bicycle. Almost all children want to learn how to ride a bicycle and enjoy doing so. Notice that I said almost all because I fell into that small percentage of children who couldn't care less if I could ride a bike or not. My parents were determined that I would learn how to ride and I was determined that I wouldn't. We had this same debate with swimming lessons. Only when I was given an immediate prize to work toward would I participate somewhat willingly. In order for me to learn to ride that bicycle, there was a drawing of a very expensive doll that I wanted on the refrigerator. If I successfully rode my bicycle for a long enough amount of time, I could earn a part of the doll (think about it like Hangman).Eventually, I did earn the doll and I can ride a bicycle. I'm not saying that I wouldn't have ever learned if I wasn't given the tangible incentive but knowing that there was a reward awaiting me did speed the process along. Maybe the incentive for a student scoring better on their report card is a prize from a treasure chest or a homework pass. Maybe those students are allowed to be the line leader for a day. If a student can see a that a tangible goal awaits them and not an abstract goal, they will work harder to tackle whatever obstacle lies before them. I still have that doll that I earned by riding my bicycle. I still have the bicycle too!

Readers/Writers or Listeners/Watchers?

Dr. John Strange of the University of South Alabama has said that students are in the midst of a shift from being students who read and write to students to listen and watch. I can see what Dr. Strange is saying in this. Students are now in this technology age where everything is digital. Students do listen to and watch a lot more material that they read or write. However, someone has to be writing the material that these students are listening to or watching. Through the use of blogs and podcasts, this shift may be smooth and may not really be that big of a shift. With blogs, students are still having to write, they just use a keyboard instead of a pencil. If students read other blogs, they are still reading. They just aren't reading a hard copy. I don't know that either side, the readers/writers or listeners/watchers is better than the other. I feel that students need a mix of both so that one day, they may be the ones who are creating the material that is listened to or watched. Here's a link to Dr. Strange's blog on the topic:http://jstrangeteachingtools.blogspot.com/2008/10/readerwriters-or-listenerwatchers.html

iGoogle as a Classroom Website

iGoogle, the personalized homepage provided by Google, may also be used in the classroom. iGoogle may work better with older students and with a smaller class size because in order for the students to view the iGoogle homepage, they must have the password. Once the students have the password, they may edit the web page how they wish. This may be concerning for some teachers since students can then post whatever to the classroom page. Due to this, the tool should really only be used with older students and a very small class size. The teacher may create a few tabs that may be of interest to the class and then have the students create their own tabs. Tabs can be named however a student desires. If the students title their tabs as "Name's Tab", they may then post gadgets that are of interest to them. The teacher may also direct some of the posting by asking students to find gadgets that pertain to a certain topic and then by also having the students view the tabs of other students to see the other gadgets that are available.
I don't see iGoogle being a tool that is as effective with younger students as with older students but it may have a place among education, perhaps in a class of gifted students or students in a summer program.

Podcasts in the Classroom

Podcasts may also be beneficial in the classroom. I was skeptical at first about the effectiveness of podcasts, but I do believe that used correctly, podcasts are wonderful.
Since educational podcasts are free to download from iTunes, any school with Internet connection can afford the podcasts. Instead of having to buy several videos to illustrate a concept, a teacher may simple search iTunes for a video podcast that properly demonstrates the concept. Most of the podcasts that I have viewed have been relatively short. Since the podcasts are well under ten minutes in length, the class will not grow bored as easily as they would while waiting for the video to get to the point.
The podcasts that are simply audio are also nice. There are some audio podcasts that are like traditional books on tape. Students may be given copies of the story that the podcast "reads" and then they may follow along while the podcasts "reads" the story to them.
Most videos that are ordered from a regular company are very long and the teacher can't always preview the video before buying it. With the podcasts, the teacher may preview the podcast and see if it is really what is desired and even possess the podcasts without spending any money. I feel that podcasts are such a wonderful resource, especially for schools on a tight budget.

Blogs as Teaching Tools

I believe that blogs have the potential to be very effective teaching tools. Blogs may be used in the classroom in many ways.
Teachers may use blogs to connect with their school community. Teachers may create posts about what the children are learning in class,which assignment and projects are due and when they are due, and information for field trips. Since parents may access this on their own time, they are not always having to rely on the student to bring notes home. Parents may also leave comments as a way to sound off on classroom events.
Students may use blogs to strengthen different skills that they have been taught in the classroom. Blogs can be used as creative writing tools or simply as a way to get students to practice spelling words. If students are required to type their spelling words as a blog post, they are getting to do something that they may consider mature while doing something that they may consider boring. When having to type their spelling words, students have to read the word from their textbook, spell the word as they type it out, and then reread the word for correctness. Students may blog about personal experiences or about things they have been learning about in class. Students may blog about the culture they are learning about in Social Studies, a cool fact they learned in Science, or something in Math that they just really don't understand. Students may also use blogs as a way to sound off about classroom events, just like the parents could.While teachers are concerned more with students' learning capabilities rather than their happiness, it is helpful to know if a student really doesn't like how some things are done so that they may can be accommodated for and may then begin to enjoy school and learning more.
I do believe that blogs are helpful tools in classrooms if they are used properly. Instead of doing a mass email to many people and then having to answer multiple replies to an email, the teacher can put the information online for others to see and respond to in a quick, easy way.