I'll start by being honest and saying the majority of the words in the wordle provided, were basically another language to me! I have no idea what they mean or what they are... Maybe that means I am a little out of touch with the current technologies used in teaching? (if that's what they even are!) My "tech life" generally consists of a few social media sites to keep up to date with friends and family as well as the basic Microsoft Office programs and the internet to complete school work! (I honestly have no idea how people survived college without the internet). I would assume that my use of technology is a little different that that of my former teachers. Mainly due to the fact that we are just in different places in our lives and all of the social media site seem to be more popular with my generation than past generations.
I really like the idea of VoiceThread. I thought it was interesting how it was mentioned that spoken language has been around for 95,000 years more than written language (twenty times longer!!!), and is the primary mode of communication for humans, well it was anyway until the internet came along. I think it is great that VoiceThread allows people (teachers in particular) to bring that spoken aspect back even in a virtual setting, whether the teacher use it for online lessons or homework! As the video mentioned, it can make these tasks more personal, let alone more human! Spoken conversation also allows for the students to differentiate and pick up on things that are more difficult to notice when reading written conversation, for example what the teacher deems to be most important due to their expressions, tone of voice or emphasis or a topic.
In today's society many things are consisting of more and more technology being involved, this includes modes and methods of education! For example, when I was in elementary school the use of computers was limited when outside of "computer class" and instead we used pen and paper for our assignments. However, times are changing and now our elementary schoolers are using computers for assignments such as their high stakes testing writing prompts (aka the use of technology is VERY important). I really enjoyed exploring some the sites that were shared with us regarding digital writing. One thing that I really got from looking at a of them was how many forms of writing technology has provided us with! I have used Wordles before, and love the idea of them. They are a fun alternative to just a list of words, and I love of it adds emphasis to specific words. I also enjoyed learning a little more about prezi, I have seen presentations in which they were used, but I have never created one myself! I'd love to do so in the future however. And, of course, memes. Memes are currently pretty popular, but I love that they prove a fun, and often funny, way to share a message.
The first thing I noticed upon clicking on the link for the top 200 tools for learning was that I am incredibly familiar with at least the top 15 tools listed as well as many others further down the list! (so maybe I am not as out of touch with the technologies of teaching as I had previously though. AND maybe my use of technology isn't as different as my past teachers either!) I love how this list consist of so many tools that I use, even though I am not a teacher! This means that students are using technologies in the classroom, that they also use at home or in their personal time, but perhaps in a different way! (That is one thing that I love about technology, the diversability)
I enjoyed seeing the idea of Bloom's Taxonomy used with the different "levels" of technological tools used in teaching. With all of the possible tools available to teachers, it is important that they remember the concept of "scaffolding". It is extremely important that the students do not skip to using sources that are under the "evaluating" level when they have yet to use those in the "understanding" level, since they build off of eachother.
I have learned of so many fun and interesting technological tools that are available to teachers, and just in general, and honestly would love to play around and learn to use a lot of them! As I mentioned further up in this post, I'd love to attempt to step out of my comfort zone of using powerpoint and use prezi when I have my next presentation!
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