Chapter 8 is all about sharing ideas creatively, working together using teamwork, and as always through the use of technology. It is interesting to see that teachers may not always be associated with the words "strict" or "formal" because they now have different techniques that help students love learning. Incorporating tasks that make students connect with one another will be extremely beneficial to them in the future. By allowing students to use social media to learn it is working with not only their academic ability but also with their social skills.
Interesting topics from this chapter:
Interesting topics from this chapter:
- The Benefits of Blogging (VIDEO)
- Benefits of Digitaltalk
1). In this video it is very interesting to see that teachers can start using blogs at such an early age. The iGeneration may have a much easier time with learning through the use of blogging or technology in general but if they are able to blog in elementary school what will they be able to do by the time they reach high school and beyond. To some adults making a blog seems like a difficult task but these students are taking the challenge head on and are excited to learn.
Video credit to Linda Yolis found on YouTube
2). Text messaging and email are two popular forms of communication among students and even adults. The book provides several strategies on how to use them as a teacher. The first is understanding the use of "Digitaltalk" which defined in the book is "an abbreviated collection of symbols and letters that are used for quick communication when using cell phones or text messaging on a computer" (Turner 2010). There are a lot people that might say the use of digitaltalk is not useful at all but studies done by researchers in England show that the words that are in abbreviated form are abbreviated phonetically. (Plester, Wood, & Joshi, 2009) which is actually helpful to younger texters.
References.
References.
- Maloy, R. (2011). Communication and Collaborating with Social Media. In Transforming learning with new technologies (Vol. 2, p. 194). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
- Yollis, L. (2013, March 13). The Benefits of Blogging! Retrieved February 21, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWESkdrd_gc#t=17
- Plester, B., Wood, C., and Joshi, P (2009). Exploring the relationship between children's knowledge of text message abbreviations and school literacy outcomes. British Journal of Development Psychology, 27, 145-161
It will be interesting to see how some of these elementary students transfer their blogging skills (writing, commenting, having a worldwide audience) into their future. I have been watching some of these early bloggers and so far, I think there's only positives.
ReplyDeleteTexting is another 'bear' altogether - at least for writing teachers! :) It is definitely part of our culture and it won't be going away anytime soon. It would be interesting to do additional research to get additional perspectives