http://pinterest.com
1. For my tool I chose Pinterest. Pinterest is an online sharing board for people to share what they like and find on the internet with others. People create their own pin boards in which they can save all of the images and websites that they like. This makes organizing and sharing ideas even easier than before.
2. I would integrate this into my classroom because there are many different educational activities. Other people have already gone and pinned activities, ideas, posters, worksheets, and many other things onto the website. Depending on what lesson I want to teach or any holiday or celebration that is coming up, Pinterest is more than likely to have creative ideas on their site. They also have videos on this site that are educational related and can be shown in class. This site can benefit teachers and students because they have many different ideas for teaching and for learning. If I was doing a math lesson teaching addition I would log onto Pinterest and search the words “math” and “addition” I would scroll through the pins that have come up and click on the appropriate links, these links to websites might also have good ideas on them and I can find more resources that way!
3. This is an effective use of teaching and a valid use of technology because Pinterest is all about sharing. People are allowed to pin any items they would like which gives the users of Pinterest control over the website and their own boards. In a world where the internet and information sharing is a daily part of our lives what a better way than to take advantage of that in the classroom. Many people have creative and helpful ideas and put them in one place. This eliminates the endless searching of websites for good ideas and brings them all into one place (and even includes pictures).
a. The strengths of this tool are the unlimited use and new items being pinned every day. The website does not get boring or outdated because people are constantly pinning new websites to Pinterest.
b. This website is great in my eyes but it does have some weaknesses. This is not a website I would give my students direct access to. There are a lot of great things on Pinterest but since you can pin anything, it is not always suitable for children of a young age. I would recommend this website for teacher use only. A teach can log on, find ideas and bookmark them that way there is no chance of children seeing anything inappropriate. A teacher could even pin all of their ideas onto a pin board and have that bookmarked for student viewing, eliminating the middle man.
c. If I could change anything about this website it would be that fact that it can have inappropriate things on it. I would like to have filters where certain categories are not even allowed to be seen or you can filter out certain images or words. This would allow the website to be more student friendly and they could then find their own activities to do in class.
RSS is a really awesome way to stay in touch with all of your favorite blogs, sites, and much more. Have a favorite blog? Follow a favorite tv show? Follow a new channel? If so, you are probably searching every day to find out if anything new was posted. A reader such as Google reader can eliminate all of your searching. Google reader allows you to subscribe to all of your favorite sites which will then show up on your reader when something new is posted! It's like having all the newest information on the internet in the palm of your hand! Quite frankly, I find this kinda cool. I didn't know such a thing was possible until today and am going to take advantage of it.
If there is a downside to using an RSS then I can't find it. I think it is an efficient and organized way to follow all of the things you love in life. If anything, the massive amounts of information flooding your reader could be a problem, but that is what the filter buttons are for! In my opinion, this is a great tool to use in the classroom and in your own personal life!
2. I would integrate this into my classroom because there are many different educational activities. Other people have already gone and pinned activities, ideas, posters, worksheets, and many other things onto the website. Depending on what lesson I want to teach or any holiday or celebration that is coming up, Pinterest is more than likely to have creative ideas on their site. They also have videos on this site that are educational related and can be shown in class. This site can benefit teachers and students because they have many different ideas for teaching and for learning. If I was doing a math lesson teaching addition I would log onto Pinterest and search the words “math” and “addition” I would scroll through the pins that have come up and click on the appropriate links, these links to websites might also have good ideas on them and I can find more resources that way!
a. The strengths of this tool are the unlimited use and new items being pinned every day. The website does not get boring or outdated because people are constantly pinning new websites to Pinterest. 