Thing #2

I think that the greatest initial affect that we will have on our students that enter our classroom s and they find out that we are using a tool that that are familiar with in the class involves their peaked interest. They get to work with posting their own blog or creating/editing a Wiki on volcanoes instead of sit and get about volcanoes. Their synapses begin to fire and they are engaged in a way that they did not think they would be in the normal boring class. Their interests will stay peaked until we all begin to incorporate these tools, then we will need to continue to push the envelop because these tools with also become dated to the next generation of learners. That's natural in education.
What we all have to do as of yesterday is become savvy enough and efficient enough to employ these methods with minimal effort with maximum results. I want to use Wikis in my classroom on every subject imaginable so that I get the student creating and ultimately thinking with clarity about the subject they are studying. I think we have to incorporate text usage in a very controlled environment into question and answer sessions and I would like infuse that media into our review and check for understanding. I think the students need to use multimedia more often to compose their own video productions and video linked clips in their work. I think that these are just a few examples of how we can peak the student's interests and ultimately get them to learn the material we are trying to teach in a way that they want to learn.