TOTD

I really enjoyed class today, from presenting our RAFTs to learning about what it takes to be a Yearbook teacher, and listening to our guest speaker talk about getting adequate sources, evaluating sources, and curating sources. I'm learning a lot about practical new media activities and methods of learning to use in my future classroom, and realizing that school does not have to be cut and dry literature is really exciting. I have garnered information and experience with so many different new media sources, including Twitter, Padlet, Storyboardthat.com, pixton.com, Voicethread, Facebook,  and so many other media. Instead of punishing students for using social media, I can embrace social media and bring it into the classroom, increasing the ability to have my students be engaged in the classroom.

The speaker, who is part of OSU's English department, showed us a cool app called Scoop It, which allows you to scoop articles that you find poignant or interesting, and to write commentary about that article. This would be a great tool to use in my future classroom, to encourage students to research by finding interesting articles, and to comment on them. Also, she talked about curating sources from Scoop It as well as Pinterest. Online, I found a definition for curation: "In its simplest form, curation is the gathering of content about a specific topic or niche that is found on the web and is later shared with others in a purposeful manner "(http://www.copypress.com/blog/anyone-can-curate-that-means-you/#sthash.8HjU0cya.dpuf). Students can gather sources in a particular niche that they are studying or researching, and then share their sources with other classmates. I also thought it was very cool that our guest speaker gets paid to travel and to review and write about plays. I enjoyed class a lot, and this being our last class, will miss it!