My name is Heather Stafford. I am a teacher-librarian at a middle school in Bermuda. I am in the intensive Masters program in Computing and Education. This choice is somewhat ironic for me because I do not gravitate toward digital technologies. I do not have an MP3 player of any kind; I never use instant messaging: I find it tedious and as a former English teacher, I could never use IM language; I have never played computer games and I prefer to view my movies on a theater screen. Podcasts, blogs and wikis hover on the periphery of my consciousness.
I want to become literate with the Web 2.0 media. It is the media of choice for my students and my own children. They have their iPod, Facebook and MySpace accounts as well as the myriad of other sites mentioned in the readings. I use none of them and am beginning truly feel like a dinosaur. I wish to learn how to navigate in these environments and to harness them for use in the classroom.
1 comment:
You go, girl! Glad to see you are up and running. I hear you about feeling like a dinosaur...was it Ellen's class or Howie's class this summer where we read about E.Rogers' categories of innovators? I also admit to being a laggard in some of these techno-innovations and gadgets. (I love telling people that back in the late '80's I did all of my first masters degree papers with an electric typewriter!) I can identify with your sense the importance of becoming more tech savvy in order to increase your effectiveness with your kids and the students you work with. It is becoming increasingly important for us as educators to first recognize that these millenials do not learn the same way we did and that if we are willing to make adjustments in our methods, we can use these new fangled gadgets to inspire them to learn.
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