Making Learning Fun!

I have never considered creating my own magazine, but apparently it is possible. OpenZine is a free publishing website and is open to anyone who wants to invest in their own passions so others can view it free and online. In an OpenZine called Project PLN, elementary educator Derek Brahman blogs about his own passions. In summation, he encourages teachers to focus on making learning fun. If teachers are enjoying what they are teaching, then students will inevitably pick up on it. The biggest key point in his article is that students are not going to remember whether or not their school had the top state reading test scores, but rather if their teacher was fun and what they learned in class.

I happen to agree with Derek Brahman. I think learning should be fun and my intent is to focus on using technology in the classroom. Instead of banning the use of cellphones during the school day, why not let students use them in the classroom as clickers, use apps, connect to the school's wireless network and focus on what we can do with technology instead of what they shouldn't do.

Should students be able to use cell phones in the classroom?

Expanding PLN by responding to blog posts

I recently read a blog called 5 tips for better social networking by John Hagel III and John Seely Brown. This is a very enlightening article on social networking. Personally, I think this is sound advice. Something that stuck with me the most was the tip on promoting others. Tweeting about others reminds me of the idiom, "You catch more flies with sugar." This is also the reverse psychology concept. Give the other person kudos and recognition for what they are doing and in the end you are going to get props for promoting their ideas. In the end, people might even start following you. Honestly, I'm still pretty new to the tweeting and blogging. My goal is to use proper etiquette with my social networking and increase my PLN.