here are a couple more blogs you may wish to check out as they offer you a peek into the world of science and reading: http://mrsbrownams.edublogs.org/ and http://mrsmooreenglish.blogspot.com/Both of these offer even more opportunities to interact with the world around us. Enjoy!
I would love to continue to use blogs as a new avenue of learning for me and my students. I would like to keep the walls of communication open as much as possible. It means we never have to turn off the learning. After all, one of my goals as an educator is to create life-long learners. I believe blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds, helps us to do all of that. Virtual academies are no longer a vision, they are the new na d improved classroom. We’ll never be able to replace good teachers, but with the help of blogs we can create great teachers. My language classes will discover communication at its finest; my Social Studies class will be on top of most current events, both locally and nationally with the RSS feeds, and all of my classes will be able to create documents worthy of publication- that is amazing! And, we don’t have to spend millions to make it all happen. We’ve got the world at our fingertips, so, we may as well learn how to tap into it and get as much out of it as we can.
As we continue our trek on providing the best education, we find ourselves in a whole new world of information. A world in which we can directly communicate with thousands of others with just a few simple clicks. However, this extraordinary mode of commication brings with it many safety issues. Public postings are subject to much criticism, so using extra caution when making posts is very important. No longer are conversations private, so you need to be careful with all that you have to say on blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools. Most of these read/write tools have usage agreements that need to be checked in order for users to post. As educators, it is vital that we share this information with our students so that they understand the importance of adhering to these agreements so that they do not lose posting privileges. Aside from that, we also must be sure that what we post is original, and if it isn’t, we need to give proper credit to whomever is responsible for the information. I believe that we can all enjoy the wonderful read/write Web 2.0 tools, so long as we remember the rules.
After watching the “Water Buffalo” podcast and seeing how it changed the attitudes of people and how that change caused something good to happen, I realized just how powerful a podcast can be.
I believe that Web 2.0 functions and features are just the tip of the iceberg for both students and teachers. I have to admit, I found it all a bit scary at first, but then I realized how important it is to know what’s going on in the world around us. Podcasting is just one way in which our students can experience global events without ever leaving their homes or classrooms (not that we wouldn’t want them to travel.)
When used properly, podcasts not only create new awareness of the world around us, but they also help us to reflect on those things and how they affect us. Critical thinking is a skill that has not yet been fine-tuned in our society and I do believe in our new-found global talk format, we are forcing that skill to be learned. Imagine if podcasts has existed during the time of Hitler. If the “underground” could have had a greater link to the world, maybe we wouldn’t have had to teach our children about Hitler at all. Now, that’s something to ponder.
Based on the information we’ve gathered in class, who do you say Hitler was? How would you describe him to someone who has never heard of him?
My 8th grade language arts class is studying the Holocaust and we are looking for new ways to connect with people in other countries to find out what they know about it. We look forward to your responses.
If you’re a Holocaust survivor, please tell us your story.
During the Holocaust, Jewish citizens, and other minority groups were faced with difficult decisions; unfortunately, almost all choices faced the same consequence- DEATH.
As we research the minorities targeted and the many countries affected, we have many questions that remain unanswered. How could so many people kill so many innocent victims? How could so many people allow this tragedy to happen? What kept some alive?
How does tolerance and intolerance tie in to this horrific period in world history?
So far we know that many European countries were affected including Poland, Germany, and Holland, to name just a few.
Please add information about other countries that were affected by Hitler and the Nazis.
