Thing 2 - Online Generators 2

Wordle - This is a fun easy program. We had an intructor come in and show teachers how to make "word walls" - this is something similar but instead of having pertinent vocabulary on the walls of the classroom, they could be printed out, made into posters, etc. You could use this for vocabulary for all areas.
Or you could have students made their own!
I made a Wordle based on this blog - you can view it at http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/975863/My_11.5_Things_Blog_Wordle

Voki - I love this site! It is so fun to create a character and add voice. I haven't hooked up a mike yet, but it would be even better to record your own voice rather than using the text feature that I did below. I am not sure what relevance it has in education, but it is fun!

I haven't ever heard of Bookr before. A digital storybook. I can see students using these at the beginning of the new school year to introduce themselves to their teacher or class. They could use their own pics in Flickr! However, I couldn't figure out how to do that. I have pics posted in Flickr, but when I tried to search for images under my name it said they couldn't find any. Do any of you all know the trick? I wish you could import your own pics and not rely on Flickr.
I made this example of how one might look. Since I couldn't access my own pics in Flickr, I just used others.

Thing #1 Registration & Reflection on Video

We have a lot of work to do! If this is the student, teacher, and classroom of the future then our school/district/state had better get moving!

I am not sure I am a supporter of this type of learning in every classroom. Just like anything else, you need some variety. Not all students will be able to learn like this and we want to meet the needs of all students.

Student - I can see a student loving this type of classroom - using technology, social connections, self-creativity, etc. to learn. The main drawback I can see is that it will take quite a bit of student effort and initiative. For some, this won't be a problem, but not all are self-starters or are highly motivated. (Working at an at-risk school is certainly where many of these type students are!) I, too, am not what I would call creative and could see myself having trouble in this type of learning environment. The teacher would need to be highly trained to enable this type of classroom setting.

Teacher - We as teachers or librarians would need MUCH training - how to set up a classroom such as this, how to guide students along, how to find proper social connections for the content, and more that I cannot even fathom. Where would this training come from?
The old fashioned teacher would have to be totally transformed - and I don't know if this is possible. Districts need to be recruiting teachers based on criteria that would be conducive to this type of classroom.

Technology Needs - This would take quite a bit of technology for each classroom. Best of all would be laptops for each student. There would be much money needed for districts to evolve into this type of classroom. I don't see it happening in the next five years.