So I didn't realize that we are to be posting blogs all the time. I guess I didn't read everything correctly, and I have some catching up to do! I was reading some of my professional blogs today and Two of them really caught my eye. One was on Dr. Z Reflects and the other was the Langwitches Blog. It was interesting, because they were both pertaining basically to the same thing, which is using Social Technologies in the classroom.
In Dr. Z Reflects it was interesting to see the difference between social media and social networking. I never really thought about it and kind of threw them into the same pot. Dr. Z explains the difference and the fact that they can be combined into one category, which is social technologies. I know I am pry not the only person who ever thought this way, and Dr. Z does a good job explaining the difference. All these social technologies are related. I know that on Facebook many people use this social network to post information from social media such as Youtube and blogs.
In the Langwitches blog the blogger was discussing the fact that if we are going to prepare the students of today for the future, we need to understand how to use different social technologies ourselves. We often talk about how technology is the future, but yet many of the classrooms of today do not reflect that. Some say that it is because we can't afford many things, and others say it is because teachers may not know how to implement them. The thing is there are many web 2.0 products out there for us to use for free. Also, I believe that professional development days are a perfect opportunity to get teachers learning about these web 2.0 products.
The classrooms of today are different than those of the past, and the ones of the future are going to be extremely different than the ones of today. Education needs to be changing along with them, and implementing social technologies into the classroom is a step in the right direction, in my opinion. I look forward to learning more, so I can help prepare my future students to succeed in an ever changing world!
