EduTecher Reflection

Edutecher.net

So on Edutecher the first thing that catches my eye is edutecherTv. Sounds neat, so I click the link and it takes me to another page that has several video players titled on the side. I choose one called searchypants. In the video, I learned that this search engine is not only a safesearch but as a teacher, you can create your own customizable search engine for your classroom. You can even include links to the sites your students are using. This not only puts the teachers mind at ease, since it is a safe search site, but it also customizes your search engine to be specific to your class! How convenient!
I am also impressed with edutechertv in general. Many times, I get discouraged when I have to read a lot of Internet material. Watching and listening to the demonstration is much easier to understand than reading a lot of directions in text.
Because I enjoyed the edutechertv so much, I choose to learn about a second resource through the TV option. I watched a video about a site called Qwiki. It was also a really neat site. When you type a name or place into Qwiki search engine, the site it pulls up, reads aloud and gives a virtual definition of your search topic. Allowing you to pause and resume whenever needed. This would work really well for students who are struggling or just learning to read. It also had an option that let you switch from topic to topic within the pages. For example, in the demonstration he searched, "William Shakespeare." When the site was talking about his hometown, they clicked on the Q in the corner and the topic switched to the town rather that Shakespeare. Neat! I really like the reading aloud feature of this site.
The third resource I learned about through the "links" page on the site was called 21stCenturyLiteracy and it had all sorts of resources on bringing technology into the classroom. Including lots of video tutorials for using googledocs (free online tool) and ways to use googledocs in the classroom. They even have their own youtube channel. I think this would be a great resource for teachers trying to integrate technology into their lessons.