Journal 2: Affinity Group & Digg Stream

Journal 2: Affinity Group & Digg Stream

Affinity Group

I joined the affinity group of Classroom 2.0: http://www.classroom20.com/.  I signed up for this affinity group because this group are actual teachers that are incorporate technology in their classroom.  The teachers have posted lessons plans in the discussion post of lessons that worked in their classroom, and showing that they used technology was a success for the students learning.  They’ll post these lesson plans for anyone to use and all they asked in return is reply back to them to see if the lesson well, or if we have any suggestion to make the lesson better. Also I like that teachers also post about websites and Apple applications that are used for appropriate grade levels in a variety of subject to enhance students learning.  By teacher posting this information it saves another teacher precious time and they can focus on other things that need to be done in their classroom.  Lastly, I like how this affinity group provides live stream conferences of a variety of technology, and education base conferences.  This provides me the opportunity of attending conferences of my interest from any part of the country from the comfort of my home.

Digg Stream

This was my first time ever using Digg Stream, and I must say you have to be patience when using this website.  I think is great that the website allows you to find a variety of blogs and websites of your interest that you would enjoy reading.  When I mention about being patience you have to patience when finding, or typing in your interest to ensure that is the feed you would like to read.  I typed in a variety of interest that was interesting to me such as common core standards and cyber bullying.  I had no problem finding websites and blogs about common core standards and how implement the standards in the classroom, and teach common core.  Everything thing I read was update with blogs post being within weeks old, and websites constantly updating with the newest information.  When it came to finding websites and blogs about cyber bullying there was a limited selection on the topic on the stream(three links), and outdated information from 2006.  Considering that cyber bulling is a hot topic going around in our school todays.  By being patience you have to search long and hard to make sure that the stream is providing you with the necessary information about your interest in order to become an effect educator. 

Question 1: What benefit do I gain from joining Classroom 2.0?

Besides acquiring access to lesson plans and conferences I get an opportunity to see how other teachers are preparing lessons and promoting positive student learning.  I get the opportunity to see a variety of teaching methods/styles being used to deliver a lesson and see if that style would fit my teaching styles.  This would be a time for me to take notes, so when I step into a classroom as a hire teacher I have my teaching methods down and is ready to start teaching.  Also I get to the see the reflections of the hardship being a teacher and the demand that is require from their principal or district.  I’ll get to see the reality of the hardship of the teachers before becoming a teacher.  This informs me of the hardship that are head in my career and how to become prepare for those hardships. 

Question 2: How do you share an item from Digg Reader with others?

If you want to send an item from Digg Reader with others, you can send the item through Facebook or Twitter.  When you’re reading your item click on the arrow that is pointing to right and either click on share to Facebook or share to Twitter.  Once you click on either or you simply log into your account and either have the item posted on your wall, or you can send the item to one of your friends/followers on your account.  This will be beneficial to know because when we active our Twitter accounts for this class we can share with our classmates what we’ve been reading that would interest others in the class.