Week One: Goals and Connecting to my Classroom

Learning Goals for the Course    
      I am very excited to learn more about Personal Learning Environments (PLE) and massively open online courses (MOOCs).   I  currently strive to incorporate different technology platforms in my lessons to help students stay engaged and excited about American History.  Students currently have assignments that use web quests, Glogster, Flip Video movies, and Moodle forums.  My main goal is to broaden my understanding of Personal Learning Environments in order to better serve my students.  It is exciting that students have the opportunity to explore their own interests and take responsibility for what they choose to research and create.


Connecting to Middle School
     One challenge of teaching students that live in such a fast paced world is connecting with them through technology.  They are essentially experts on social networking, chatting, and blogging before they even enter my classroom.  I want to integrate the use of web applications and online resources to reach out to my students.  Students want to be creative and use technology to express themselves and what they learn.  I want to give them the opportunity to socialize and collaborate using technology in all aspects of my class.  At the same time, I want to promote and teach digital responsibility.

The video below is a great resource that demonstrates the use of a PLE in a 7th grade science class.