Blogging

       Before taking my ETPT class, I had never used a blog for any reason. Although we only use ours to answer thoughtful questions about technology and education, I feel that blogs can be used in many different ways. They can be a place where students collaborate their ideas about a topic, write answers to essay questions for a class, or even read the teacher's thoughts or explanations about topics. After watching the video Why Let Our Students Blog? by Rachel Boyd and reading the information on "Objectives and Guidelines for Safe and Responsible Blogging", I feel that blogs can be a useful and effective tool, and there is a good chance that I will use them in my classroom.
     For Spanish Education, I can use blogs to give students a reason to type their Spanish sentences on a computer rather than write them on paper. This is important because with today's use of technology, students will more than likely use a computer to communicate rather than writing things down. By having to type their answers in a blog, students will learn how to type using the Spanish keyboard, which can sometimes be confusing. Along with this, students will have to read and comment on others' blogs, which will expose them to more Spanish and they will get practice reading and understanding other student's Spanish at the same level, rather than the teacher's. This can be highly effective in comprehension and reading skills for my Spanish classroom. No matter what grade level I teach, I feel that I will use blogs in my classroom to hone on the skills we learn in class and complete them in a blog format.

The Impact of Multitasking on Teaching and Learning and Thinking

       When many kids in our generation hear the word multitasking, they don't feel intimidated or think it's a big deal. To these kids, multitasking has become second nature. Most of us have been writing a paper while texting our friends and listening to our ipods. However, while we think that we're being productive and effective because we are doing many things as once, it seems as though we are doing a poor job on the many things that we're accomplishing. After watching Professor McCauley's podcast about multitasking, as well as the Frontline's Digital Nation video titled "Distracted by Everything", I have come to realize that multitasking has been negatively affecting most aspects of our lives, including teaching, learning and thinking.
      In the aspect of teaching, I believe it has become much more difficult for teachers to teach to multitasking students. These students are easily distracted and do not seem to absorb knowledge from teachers unless it is presented in a technologically advanced way. Teachers cannot simply stand in the front of the room and command the attention of the students. As far as learning, people are not fully immersing themselves into the content they are learning. Therefore, they are not fully learning the subject completely. This isn't good; while students feel they can learn many things at one time, it isn't the same as just learning one topic to the best of their ability and then moving on. In the aspect of thinking, people become distracted more easily than ever before. They cannot concentrate on one thing because their brains are so used to doing multiple things at once. In all aspects of learning, thinking, and teaching, people are not learning the material to the best of their ability, and multitasking is harming all of these areas. I'm sad to think after watching these videos that even though I feel I am doing so much and being so productive when I am multitasking, I am actually harming my learning. I think I'll stick to doing one thing at a time from now on!