Journal 6 Classroom 2.0 Nets 2, 3, 5

This journal entry promotes local and global learning through the exploration of creative applications of technology to improve student learning. With the tool I choose from classroom 2.0, calendars, the students will be able to manage their own learning, time, and set goals.

I never really thought of how to keep my lesson plans organized and where to do it. What I found was that doing it online is a great idea. If you find an application that is user friendly, it is really the way to do it rather than having to deal with hard copy, especially if you are not a very organized person. Out of the two options I have listed below, I think I would actually not mind using both but for different purposes. I would use the Assign-A-Day for myself as a teacher and I would create a website for my students and parents so they can always be informed. The one thing about the website is that you need to always be current with your information so it would require more work on my part.

I decided to look into the tool CALENDARS. Then I focused on planning and organization in the class room. The question asked was how to stay organized without using hard copy for your lesson plans. I learned about two different websites that provided useful information regarding this question. The first one was http://4teachers.org. This site offered a lot of information for teachers. The application used for this purpose was Assign-A-Day. Assign-A-Day provides you with an online application that teachers can use to manage their day to day lesson plans in a very easy way. Each calendar receives its own id#, date and title name. Once you have that done you can go into set up. Here you will be able to pick font, font size and color background you want for your calendar. Once you are back to manage calendar you will click on edit. Now you are finally able to add assignments. As you add your assignments, you are able to view the calendar in a different window. You choose beginning date and end date for assignment, name of assignment and assignment description. In the description you can add hyperlinks. When you finished adding your assignment, you can continue adding or view it in the calendar manager. When you go back to view your calendar, you will see the assignments on the dates they were assigned. Also, when you move your cursor over the date, the detailed description of the assignment pops up. The calendar can be printed in a list or a gridline format. This is great since we need to be able to show our plans to the principle if asked to. It is also a private application because you have to sign up on Assign-A-Day as a teacher with your email and own password. Only you as a teacher will be allowed to use the calendar.

http://www.oncoursesystems.com also provides you with great applications for lesson plans and organization in the class room. With their applications you can build your own website that will host all of your information so it is easily accessible for both students and parents. It is not only a private calendar for me as a teacher to keep track of my planning. In total this site provides you with tools such as: grade book & parental portal; discipline tracking; lesson planner & staff websites; student stats data analysis tool and student information system. After you visit their website and decide you are interested in their applications, you may fill out a form online with your information. They have a list of information to choose from: Easy to use web-based lesson plan book; Tracking state curriculum standards; Organize and review lesson plans; Teacher website for posting homework; Web-based calendars for users and schools. They will send out a video on how the different applications work and how you get started.

Classroom 2.0