My Peronal Learning Network

The Edurati Review- Kelly Hines

I have found that the Edurati Review site is one that has endless resources for me. There are so many great posts that I can read now and refer back to when I am teaching that will help me be successful. Kelly Hines is one of my favorite contributors to this blog because she has some very interesting points about technology in the classroom, and her thoughts about it are similar to mine. She made the point that technology is an important tool in the classroom, but it is not the most important thing. There are many factors that go into teaching and learning, and technology is a part of that list of factors, so we cannot focus too much on the technology and forget about the other skills that will help teachers be effective. However, we do need to emphasize technology in the classroom in order for the students to be successful. Confusing enough? There is a happy medium, I think, and I hope to find that in my classroom. Kelly Hines's posts and many others at the Edurati Review will be useful to me now and in my future teaching career. I am following this blog, and I am following Kelly Hines on Twitter.

At The Teacher's Desk

The blog site At The Teacher's Desk is full of useful tips and advice for teachers. There are posts that I have read that taught me things about technology, leadership, communication, and more. One post that I really enjoyed, and will definitely read again before my first year of teaching, is Mr. McClung's "What I've Learned This Year". The first thing I noticed was the picture at the top with the words "stay positive" written on the paper. That spoke volumes to me because I know that is going to be a struggle of mine when things do not go how I think they should. He had some very inspirational advice to give about things that he learned from his first year teaching. Another post that stuck out to me was the "Teachers Need To Become Social Networking Experts" post by Mr. Chamberlain. He made some very good points and used good examples to support them. I think that social networking is something that I need to work on myself, so I think that Mr. Chamberlain will be a useful contact to me presently and in the future. I am following Mr. Chamberlain on Twitter.

Jackie Gerstein

I am following Jackie Gerstein on Twitter. I love her quote, "I don't do teaching for a living, I live teaching as my doing, and technology has amplified my passion." That is a great way to look at teaching, and it inspired me to try and develop that attitude as well. She has a lot of useful links on her twitter and she is always giving ideas about technology tools in the classroom. She had posted a link about iPod use in the classroom, which is an interesting topic to me. One of my favorite things that I have gotten from her is the PowerPoint search engine site. I love PowerPoints because I find that the organization helps me understand the information. This made me so happy because it is a resource I can use and pass along to my students to use.

Mr. Byrne and Free Technology For Teachers

I am following Mr. Byrne on Twitter. Mr. Byrne contributes to the Free Technology For Teachers blog. He is always posting useful resources and technology ideas for teachers and it is all free. What I really like about the Free Technology For Teachers blog is that you can select a subject (like science) and it will show you resources for that subject. I saw a post from Mr. Byrne that included a list of educational games and game resources, which is always good to have because students sometimes need the interaction games can give them when writing gets to be too monotonous and boring. Also, I found that Mr Byrne uses cell phones in his classroom. On one of his Twitter posts, he said that he had his students text their parents Civics questions because it is a good way to get parents involved in the classroom. I thought this was a great idea. I know that Mr. Byrne's ideas are going to be useful to me as a teacher and the Free Technology For Teachers blog will be a helpful resource as well.

Edutopia

I am following Edutopia on Twitter and Facebook. I find that Edutopia has some great ideas about technology in the classroom and teaching in general. The Edutopia website always has many great stories on the front page to read. There is a section of the website that I found interesting that talks about Teacher Development, which includes things like community partnership and classroom management, to name a few. There is also a section labeled Technology Integration which includes things like social networks, interactive whiteboards, and simulations. The Edutopia blog, which can be accessed from the website, has some great ideas too. There were posts about tips for teaching new media and current events like President Obama's back-to-school speech. I have found interesting posts on a wide variety of topics. They are up-to-date on current technology in classrooms, and they have very good ideas and helpful advice. Edutopia's website and blog are things that are helpful to me now and will remain useful resources in the future.