While I was reading Suzie Boss' article, "High Tech Reflection Strategies Make Learning Stick," I started to think about students using blogs not only to reflect but as their writing journals. Constantly, teachers want students to write in journals, but for what? I am taking a class now in which I am required to write in a writing journal, and I have to say, I hate it. But thinking back to when I was in middle school, we had something called LiveJournal, and I wrote on it almost every day. I was able to make my life into something like a comedy and people read it and enjoyed it. LiveJournal wasn't very long lived unfortunately because of Facebook’s big take over (not that I'm not addicted to Facebook now). The way that George Mayo talks about getting his students to love writing blogs is inspirational, especially since he is the only teacher in the building who is using this technology. Students are expected to use new technologies, but the best way to get them to learn about them and be motivated to keep learning is to stay on top of the newest creation. If teachers can stay one step ahead of the students instead of one step behind, it will give students something to look forward to.
I also think that Digital Storytelling is a great tool to allow students take ownership for their work. There are so many components that go into it, such as the research, music, voice, video/photographs, and then putting it all together. Yet, it is not too complicated and can be used collaboratively. As it says in “7 Things you should know about Digital Storytelling,” Digital Storytelling can be used for any subject and since students are so eager to share their work and ideas online, it is a great way to do so. I also think it’s a way for teachers to collaborate and share their work in new ways. I enjoyed watching some of the videos in the “Technology Integration Matrix,” and I have learned of some great new websites. Teachers can also add these videos on their own websites for administrators and parents to see.
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