Journal 10

Web 2.0: I started with Geography because it ties into all of the areas I am interested in teaching. But there were no posting for it. I do not think many schools teach this as a separate subject any longer.

So then I skated over to Google Earth because it fascinates me. There was a nice discussion started by Thomas Petra, who teaches school in Guam, about using Google Earth resources for his mathematics classes. He was trying to find ways to expand the assignment base for his students. Many of the ideas that the other teachers suggested, made for a better educational opportunity. For instance, Mr. Petra uses weather data to track storms through Guam. By using longitude and latitude the students are able to track where a storm might go in relation to their community. Then the students look at weather date to determine how strong the storm will be. Using Google Earth they are able to follow all of this in real time. By pulling other classes into the project, i. e. Mathematics, history, population figures, population density, etc. It just opens your mind the many interactive activities and long term projects for students.

More than a few of the teachers suggested the http://www.googlelittrips.com/ site as an excellent resource for projects. It is a bit off the subject for Mr. Petra, but a source well worth mentioning. As more educators add lit trips to the site, the subjects are beginning to grow beyond strictly English literature trips. More and more cross-curricular projects are being posted.

I enjoyed the Classroom 2.0 site quite a bit. I found myself exploring many tools that I might have skipped in the past, but because of the way the site was set up, I found myself exploring. The dialogues are interesting and easy to follow. It is amazing how creative educators are, and their willingness to share those ideas.