Week_6

I hope it is ok to bring a bit of criticism to a tool as well as speaking about the toold we like and why we like them so much. I assume that if we can do one (as requested in the assignment) we can do the other as well, if I am wrong I apologize. The tools I am referring to are voice chat/thread. I have one very simple cautionary piece of advice that I want to give myself and anyone else who plans on using these tools, and that is simply to be aware of the lack of human interaction that my generation has experienced, all the more so the following generations. Enough aspects of our lives have already been taken over by social media and non-frontal interaction, maybe the classroom is specifically a place where we should think twice before letting the takeover happen. By nature I am unable to only represent one aspect of the equation and therefore I would like to mention two things that I am well aware that strengthen the option of using these media: 1. I have neither attempted nor succeeded in undermining using social media with students, I am sure that there are fantastic ways for these toold to effectively be used in the classroom, I just felt it important to bring another point of view. 2. I said that the classroom should not be taken over by social media. Of course, we can't ignore the fact that social media is so common nowadays, and that no one can (and possibly should not attempt to) escape its wonders. With all that said, I think the international nteraction possibility has a lot of potential for various reasons: 1. This highlights one of the best aspects of all the social media nowadays - worldwide interaction. 2. Worldliness - this could really open up the students to a "whole new world" (literally and figuratively) it can show them that there are things out there besides their city and family. 3. Authentic conversation is the best way to work on language and what better way to do that than with someone in your same situation.

The second tool I would like to discuss is the debating tool, a fantastic form of interaction for the classroom, and using the top 100 debates website with the pros-cns pages is a great way for high school students to prepare for their in-class debates.

The third tool I would like to use is the spelling tool. This website is a great way to help students practice spelling the words you have learned in class (you put the words in) in a simple and effective manner. I also thought that this website is very useful in that it has all levels(I dare you to try the 11-12 grade texts, see if you succeed). Another point I thought was useful is the fact that the first site i referenced uses audio and the second uses visual (texts), meaning that different sites can be used for different students based on their preferred form of learning.

This website seems to be a wonderful website for planning a text. It can be used by a teacher and by a student to plan out texts they wish to write, and for people who might have trouble with the initial stage of brainstorming. Besides formation and organization, I think another underrated  positive of this site is that it forces you to decide once and for all what you are going to write about, it helps narrow down and focus on the exact points you wihs to tackle.

Lastly I would like to discuss assorted tools that were brought in the unit this week that I think can be very for the teacher as well as the student. The first one is this which is very useful in giving the perspective of the reader (to a certain extent) that can be so lacking. I think this tool is a very fun and creative tool to spice things up a bit with a tool that is familiar to the students. And this tool is great for projects that students will be doing during the year, I know how much I would have enjoyed having something like this back when I was struggling with all sorts other programs that made me want to finish my project and shut off the computer as quickly as possible instead of genuinely enjoying a project that is supposed to be fun!