Twitter Redeemed

Last year some of my classmates gave a presentation on how to use Twitter in the classroom. It sounded like a terrible idea to me. Even after their glowing half-hour presentation. And after months of hearing my friends' phones beep, buzz or ring every two minutes with a new tweet, I swore I'd never get a Twitter. That's where I drew the line. I also swore I'd never start blogging. We can see how well that went. So yes, first I caved and started blogging. Three weeks in, I mentioned it to my best friend who was surprised I hadn't told her that I blog. "It's pathetically mediocre, Sabra." I assured her, just so she'd know she hadn't missed out on anything.

"Leah, nearly all blogs are pathetically mediocre."

Oh. Well that made me feel a little better. It wasn't long then before I caved again and got a Twitter. I still only tweet about once a week. I'm convinced that no one really cares to be updated on my life more often than that. But I still stuck to my guns about Twitter and education. Oil and water. Until today. In an interesting tie back to my last post, it was a Prezi that may have just changed my mind. Here it is.

Brilliant.

And in the meantime, before I have students of my own, I'd like to tweet with other teachers and my fellow students about education. Does anyone know if I can set up a Twitter that I could use solely for that purpose? A professional Twitter? Sadly, I know that most of my friends will quit following me if I start tweeting about Bloom's Taxonomy and Vygotsky. And if it is possible to set up a separate professional Twitter account, is there anyone out there who would like to do the same so we can bounce ideas off one another with tweets? Let me know!

Prezi

If you are bored with powerpoint, your students probably are too. Prezi is an online tool that allows users to make presentations that are incredibly visually appealing in far less time than it would take to create a basic linear powerpoint. And it's even free for teachers and college students.

But of course there are a few downfalls. It does not work as well with Internet Explorer as it does with Chrome and Opera. There are only a good handful of presentation styles to choose from, and within each style, only about two fonts: one for titles and one for content. And it does take some getting used to. The first hour you spend on Prezi will probably be a combination of frustration and wonder. But in that first hour, you can make a prezi that's cooler than any powerpoint you ever dreamed of. Here's the first prezi I ever made. It was for a Spanish class last year when I compared a book I'd read with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I guess it doesn't make a whole lot of sense without my Spanish lecture that went with it, but at least you can see what I was able to do in 45 minutes with a program I'd never used before. Pretty impressive, huh? And that's nothing compared with the stuff people do when they really know how to work Prezi. This one is still pretty simple, but it's a great introduction to the program. Explore Prezi and then let me know what you think of it!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that if you don't have time to make a Prezi of your own, there are thousands of public ones that other users have made available, and the majority of those are educational. Nice.

"Hello classroom, meet Podcasting."

Podcasting is a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcasting.” The word refers to any audio or video media files that are typically released episodically. They can be recorded using expensive equipment, a home computer, or even a touch-tone phone. One of the most common ways I’ve seen podcasts used is by churches. The sermon can be recorded during a worship service and then posted online as a podcast for people to listen to if they weren’t able to make it to church.

I never thought to use podcasting in Education until I went to Ball State. Before I began studying Elementary Education, I majored in Spanish and French Education. It was not long before I saw what a great tool podcasting would be for teachers and students. In foreign languages, it can be used to help students learn vocabulary words. And that’s just the beginning. The possibilities are endless. Here is the link to a list of ten great podcasts for the classroom. I’ve also added it to Del.icio.us. Let me know what you think about podcasting in the classroom!

Some Delicious Teaching Resources

Tonight I learned all about social bookmarking and made a Del.icio.us account. I start to feel digitally claustrophobic when I get too many tabs and bookmarks in my web browser toolbars, so I'm thrilled to have a new dumping-ground for all of my teaching resources. I hope that others find these sites as useful as I have. Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked, disliked, or think I should add to the list!

Leah Rayanne's Del.icio.us page