Learning to Teach in Web 2.0

I instructed CTGE 59100, a general course in the use of technology for k-12 teachers, during July and August of 2008. 2 sections of graduate level students took the course with me. They are primarily New York City Department of Education Teaching Fellows who have completed a full year of service as ESL teachers. This cohort includes teachers across many grade levels, working in a variety of teacher deployment modes (i.e. “push in”, “pull out”, “regular classroom”, etc.)

A major area we covered in class was the use of free and user friendly Web 2.0 resources for instruction. This class blog (tech4tesol) functioned throughout the 6 weeks of the course as a frequently updated class space to post notices and share information, ideas, and feedback on many things; a supplementary text and source of content resources; a presentation vehicle, as much of the class meetings centered around the blog projected on a large screen during class meetings; and a general “glue” to hold the proceedings, discussions, and content items together and in order.

A requirement of the class was that each student create a blog and use it as the workspace in which to practice using these digital tools as instructional resources. It is the “medium” with which they produced and present their final project, as well. Of particular interest to me is the fact that the overwhelming majority reported at the beginning of the course that they had no previous experience as bloggers and none in the use of blogs for instruction. Below are links to their blogs:

1. http://techteachermom.blogspot.com/
2. omgeducation.blogspot.com
3. 5th2college.blogspot.com
4. http://www.mrskieslblog.blogspot.com/
5. http://stacyfalberg.blogspot.com/
6. http://blobertblogkey.blogspot.com/
7. http://eslforfun.blogspot.com/
8. http://therearenomistakesinmsgsclass.blogspot.com/
9. http://goldwatereslflow.blogspot.com
10. http://globalhistoryesl.blogspot.com
11. http://iloveroseanne.blogspot.com/
12. http://learning4every1.blogspot.com/
13. http://www.eslallstars.blogspot.com/
14. http://mskennelly.blogspot.com/
15. http://speakinglouderdoesntmeanclearer.blogspot.com/
16. http://makingteachingrelevant.blogspot.com/
17. http://mssmichelle.blogspot.com/
18. http://striveandthrive.blogspot.com/
19. http://ingles4ward.blogspot.com/
20. http://www.classconnect.blogspot.com/
21. http://theeducationofateacher.blogspot.com/
22. http://spiceesl.blogspot.com/
23. http://www.msschimmel.blogspot.com/
24. http://anti-bloggerblogger.blogspot.com/
25. http://teachingperfection.blogspot.com/
26. http://arsmolin22.blogspot.com/
27. http://dee77.blogspot.com/
28. http://www.adultedvocate.blogspot.com/
29. http://weblogforlearning.blogspot.com/
30. http://lindsayteach007.blogspot.com/
31. http://hwhang.blogspot.com/
32. http://eslbeyond.blogspot.com/
33. http://tenconfianza-esl.blogspot.com/
34. http://englishexplosion.blogspot.com/