The idea for this series has been brewing for over a year, and a generous invitation to present my ideas to colleagues prompted me to launch it at last. I expect that I will add to and edit what I have here in an attempt to keep the series as current as possible. I hope that it is obvious that this is not an exhaustive list, but a record of what I have actually implemented in real classrooms and some of the lessons that I have learned.
Series Introduction
Why should English teachers bother making the extra effort to integrate technology into the classroom? In this post I give some of my reasons for doing so and offer a brief caution against indiscriminate technology use.
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Laying the Groundwork
Successfully integrating technology and new media into the English classroom requires some preparatory work with students. There are three main concepts that I review with students at the beginning of any English course: digital citizenship, smart searching, and a critical analysis framework.
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Blogs
Blogs have been foundational for my English classes for the past five years. In this post I look at a few different ways of using blogs, and then share some practical tips for setting up a blog.
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Wikis
Wikis are fantastic tools for enabling online collaboration. They can be used as simple class websites, or can be a platform on which students create digital projects together. I include some practical tips for setting up a wiki in this post.
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Moodles
Moodles are an anomaly in this series in that I’m not very enthusiastic about them. I do think, however, that there are circumstances where a moodle might be a good solution for a teacher, so I share some of my experience in the hopes that others can benefit from it.
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iPod
Audio files are terrific in the classroom, especially for the audio learners, and the iPod has a “cool” factor that works as a great hook. For integrating audio books, podcasts, audio clips, or music, the iPod is an easy tool for a teacher to bring to the students.
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