Yes, I am a Prezi fanatic! I can't believe how addictive Prezi is! I say up night after night working on a presentation, look for new videos, revamping the layout, and sharing the presentation with family and friends. My first Prezi focuses on rhetoric, a unit incorporated in my English II lessons.
In this presentation, I incorporated key concepts related to rhetoric and allowed students to learn those concepts through videos, commercials, and famous speeches. I believe this presentation will be much more engaging than the PowerPoint presentation that I formerly used to introduce this unit. When school students, I plan to use Prezi presentation as a tool to introduce and review "big ideas" before, during, and at the end of units.
Monday, July 18, 2011
This thing called...Twitter
I have always been fascinated by the fascination of Twitter. At this point, almost everyone uses his/her Twitter account to communicate with the world--from President Obama in the White House to 13-year-old niece Lauren in Washington, NC. The Twitter craze is everywhere!
Last year, I noticed students who were waiting for the bus constantly using their phones to post a tweet (instead of updating their Facebook status, which was once the flavor of the month). Last May, I asked a student what was so great about Twitter, and she said, "I can let people know what I am doing every second of the day." Ummm.."Is that wise?" I was thinking considering I personally like the fact that people do NOT have that kind of access to my whereabouts! Do I think there is at least one person who want to know that I need to go to Whole Foods to grab some aloe vera juice or that the line is extremely long at Wal-Mart at 3:00 in the afternoon?
Yet, I understand what she meant...I think..
Twitter gives people a feeling that they are right there in one's daily/hourly/minute-by-minute thoughts as he/she lives life. It helps people know about cool places you have experienced, ideas about the world, and even photos are one's adventures. There is real value in feeling connected to others--even those we have never met, who live across the world, or only see on television.
This summer, I have started to think about how I could incorporate Twitter into my lessons. While I checking-up with one of my former student teachers last week about Twitter, he said that he uses it to share vocabulary lessons, bonus assignments for those who submit tweets, and to connect with students about last minute changes in assignments (He also posts those changes on his website for students who do not want to use Twitter). I am so impressed with how he is using a tool that students obviously love in his lessons! I now can see how Twitter might be useful for educators to share ideas, to vent, to connect throughout the day with other educators. What a wonderful Twitter community it would be to see thousands of educators armed with support and love!
Yes, I finally understand why people like Twitter, and I even have an account now. I follow about 20 people (from the Food Network to my pastor) and enjoy reading about their thoughts. I have yet to post my own tweet because I only have several followers, yet maybe that will change in the future. All in all, I find Twitter a cool tool to use when I want to connect with others for about....ummm....five minutes.
Now, am I going to use Twitter this fall in my lessons? The jury is still out. We shall see...
Last year, I noticed students who were waiting for the bus constantly using their phones to post a tweet (instead of updating their Facebook status, which was once the flavor of the month). Last May, I asked a student what was so great about Twitter, and she said, "I can let people know what I am doing every second of the day." Ummm.."Is that wise?" I was thinking considering I personally like the fact that people do NOT have that kind of access to my whereabouts! Do I think there is at least one person who want to know that I need to go to Whole Foods to grab some aloe vera juice or that the line is extremely long at Wal-Mart at 3:00 in the afternoon?
Yet, I understand what she meant...I think..
Twitter gives people a feeling that they are right there in one's daily/hourly/minute-by-minute thoughts as he/she lives life. It helps people know about cool places you have experienced, ideas about the world, and even photos are one's adventures. There is real value in feeling connected to others--even those we have never met, who live across the world, or only see on television.
This summer, I have started to think about how I could incorporate Twitter into my lessons. While I checking-up with one of my former student teachers last week about Twitter, he said that he uses it to share vocabulary lessons, bonus assignments for those who submit tweets, and to connect with students about last minute changes in assignments (He also posts those changes on his website for students who do not want to use Twitter). I am so impressed with how he is using a tool that students obviously love in his lessons! I now can see how Twitter might be useful for educators to share ideas, to vent, to connect throughout the day with other educators. What a wonderful Twitter community it would be to see thousands of educators armed with support and love!
Yes, I finally understand why people like Twitter, and I even have an account now. I follow about 20 people (from the Food Network to my pastor) and enjoy reading about their thoughts. I have yet to post my own tweet because I only have several followers, yet maybe that will change in the future. All in all, I find Twitter a cool tool to use when I want to connect with others for about....ummm....five minutes.
Now, am I going to use Twitter this fall in my lessons? The jury is still out. We shall see...
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