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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Chapter 15

The Illuminations website is a wonderful way for teachers to remain focused on the Principles and Standards that are to be taught in the classroom. It is a great resource for teachers to use in order to motivate students to learn. The website is designed to have students engage in activities that will allow them to absorb the information more easily and retain what they have learned. This tool is great for teachers to integrate different types of lessons in their everyday classrooms. After years of teaching, a teacher may become too comfortable with his or her teaching ways; however, if there is a tool available that will introduce new ways, teachers can continue to cater to the needs of all different types of students.

As I read this chapter, I thought about how effective a wikis site could be. If teachers can stay in touch, give feedback to one another about different lessons, upload lesson plans that were successful, and share activities that were effective, a wikis site could have great potential.

3 comments:

Jess Madigan said...

I really like the idea you shared in the end of your post-- that teachers could communicate through wikis. At my high school, our departments had meetings where they discussed lesson plans. They also used the tutoring center to interact with teachers from other departments in order to merge concepts from different subjects. If they used wikis, I think that the communication between departments would be even stronger (as long as it was organized).

Carlie said...

I think that it's great to incooperate technology into the classroom as long as focus can't be lost. From what you said, it does seem that the Illuminations website would be a good tool for teachers to use and a great reminder of the required principles and standards.
I also liked your thoughts about the potential of a wiki site. Using wiki could help teachers out with sharing feedback and lesson plans in a more conveinent manner.

Ben D. said...

I also liked how you discussed the advantages of using wikis in the classroom because I feel like they could be great for group projects. At my high school, we did not really use technology unless it was for research. When I was assigned group projects, there would be typically some sort of misunderstanding about what part each person was supposed to do. I feel like using wiki could reduce the amount of confusion because each group member could post exactly what he/she is doing and then notify when their part is finished. Having that knowledge of what each person is doing and how they are doing it and also the ability to openly communicate and answer questions without ever having to find a time to meet would be very beneficial for group projects. Especially students that rarely have a spare moment to meet with a group.