Monday, November 30, 2009

Podcasts

I found a good educational podcast at podcast pickle called The Teachers Podcast. I think it is very important as an educator to always learn new things. I think there we can always get better at what we do and the way to do that is to learn and try new things. That is exactly what this podcast is about. It covers new ways for educators to use technology and new technologies as well. It is very much designed to be a tool that you can use in your classroom and not just a bunch of random information.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

EPals

This looks like an interesting site. There are educational tools are several topics that affect us all. You can find classrooms in different countries around the world to connect with and share information. There are forums to discuss different topics that affect us all. You can do a blog for your school as well. I would use this in my classroom to create awareness for positives and problems we have in our world today. I would do this by assigning different assignments, whether it's just getting on and exploring and reporting interesting things, or creating a blog or even getting on a forum. I think that any time you can expose young people to new things and especially new things in other parts of the world it is a plus. The greater the understanding people have of each other and their way of life the more considerate and forgiving they are to each other. The first thing that comes to mind is racism. I really think the way to stop this is to create a better understanding of each other. You will come to find out that we all live the same basic way. We just have different ways of going about it. This understanding melts away all differences and hopefully prejudice.

I think the WizIQ tool would be very helpful in global collaboration. I think the website is similar to the epals sight, but less globally oriented. Both are great resources to talk with other teachers, learn, and give your students some insight on new things. I would definitely use WizIQ to help my students learn more about different parts of the world through the learning tools that allow you to search information on a vast array of topics and seeing how other classrooms operate.

Videos to Educate



Im a huge fan of all things psychology. I really think that it applies to every facet of life. I found a video on kissing that I would probably show an older classroom just to loosen them up and get a laugh. I would also use it if I wanted to teach people how to teach. The video does a good job of covering all sides of the topic. Since I dont really teach in a formal classroom setting these assignments apply a little bit differently for me. Sports psychology is something that applies directly to my field and my players. The 2nd video I selected is about how doubt can destroy self confidence in athletes and directly affect performance. I would defintitely use these types of videos in just about any setting to help myself educate people