Blog Post 14

For our final blog post, we were asked to explore "Box of Tricks", a blog run by Jose Picardo, who according to the "ABOUT" page, teaches Spanish and German at Nottingham High School. He encourages teachers to take advantage of technology to help students learn.

He has an "A to Z List of Internet Resources for Education" listed on his site. He has over one-hundred different websites and resources listed for teachers' use. Best of all, the resources are free! I added this page to by PLN.

Picardo gives "Ten Tips for Using Technology in the Classroom" in this video. I thought his tips were interesting - for example, using music - popular music - to your advantage. He suggested using Skype to communicate with students and experts elsewhere. He seems to also find YouTube to be an excellent resource for teachers.

Like the schools here in Mobile County, he encourages teachers to use interactive whiteboards effectively and to go to classes to learn how to do so. Furthermore, he suggests using social networking, specifically Facebook, to communicate with your students.

Like Dr. Strange, he seems quite fond of podcasts, wikis, and blogs. He suggests using them to highlight all of the wonderful accomplishments your students have. His final tip is to make the most of your students' gadgets - such as iPhones.

At the end of the video, he says, "Use technology only when it helps you achieve your education objectives. How true! Technology does not have to be in every single moment of every single day - but it should play a big part.

His tips are very interesting and could be quite positively used in a classroom. Some, such as the use of YouTube and Facebook, are currently blocked by area schools. This could be rectified with forward-thinking administrators.