A Class Recap for October 17th

This past Monday's class was split between two distinct, yet equally important portions. The first portion was an introduction to our desktop publishing assignment. We will be creating a newsletter as if it were the first day of a new school year in our fictitious classrooms. I think this project will be fun, as well as educational; clear, concise communication among administration, teachers, students, and parents is fundamental for students' achievement, and a newsletter is a great way to do that. We also

The second portion of class was dedicated to Web 2.0 presentations. Kathleen presented "Zoho Challenge," which is an online quiz maker. I actually wanted to present this Web 2.0 myself due to its wide array of applications. However, I thought Kathleen did a great job presenting it, and I found that I was even more eager to use this Web 2.0 program/application in my own future classroom. Next, "Flickr," an online photo album, was presented by Vicky. I've used Flickr before, but wasn't very impressed by it initially; nevertheless, Vicky's presentation made a little more interested in it. While I find its usage inside the classroom sparse, it's probably fun to mess around with outside of the classroom. Lastly, Peter presented his chosen Web 2.0 application, "WikiSpaces." Of the three presentations Monday, I think this Web 2.0 application is probably the most versatile. Basically, a teacher for any subject can create a WikiSpace for their classroom, using it to keep students up to date on assignments, projects, and other goings-on in the classroom - a mini Web site, really. Being a Secondary English Education major, I think I could use WikiSpaces in a multitude of ways to keep my students not only informed, but possibly interested in the material by posting links to videos and pictures that would extend the lessons from the classroom.