Blog Post 2 Tech Theory

Prior to this class I have never used a blog, however; I love to read them. My favorite blog sites are TalkingwithTami.com and Madamenoire.com. I love these blogs because they have great articles on fashion, makeup tips, parenting advice, commentaries, and hilarious spoof materials. I do have some familiarity with wikis especially Wikipedia. Wikipedia was my go to site for assignments until I realized anyone could contribute to a page so the information was not always reliable.
I think a blog would be useful in the classroom as a way to inform parents of classroom activities and events. In my classroom I would have various blogs where students could provide feedback on assessments and projects or even materials covered in the class. I think a blog would be a great way to interact with students and provide them a place where they could share their likes or dislikes of assignments or share any ideas they may have to make a lesson more engaging. I would use a wiki page in my classroom on student research projects. As a requirement I would have students create a wiki page on the topic of their choice as it relates to the class and students could use the wiki page as a study tool in preparation for a unit test or as a refresher for a midterm or final exam.
Some other technologies that I think can help promote writing across the curriculum are e-books, because they take away the dreaded pen and paper and allow students the ability to book mark, highlight, and annotate easier for reference purposes. Reading pens, these devices are awesome because they can scan text and read the material allowed. A device like this is beneficial especially in helping students use the writing process. A portable tablet or smart phone, these devices are great because the student doesn’t always have to have a pc available when ideas arise , with a tablet/smartphone/and stylus creative writing is literally at their finger tips.
In my classroom I would definitely use the reading pens; I think this gadget is neat and easily managed. Students could use the reading pen to peer edit, proofread, and review words, phrases, or definitions they may not understand or know. For ESL students using the reading pens could help with word pronunciation and phonetics. In my opinion the reading pen is a necessity in the 21st Century classroom.