Web 2.0 Educator

I decided to follow Wes Fryer's blogs, and was greatly intrigued by his "you can too!" mentality. As a none digital native, it is nice to read the postings of an educator who believes that it is technology's responsibility to add to the educational experience. In reading his blog, "Tuning Into Educon 2.1, you can, too!" (http://www.infinitethinking.org/), Wes describes the Educon 2.0 leadership conference and the wonderful axioms passed on by this conference. I found his incorporation of the beliefs very insightful and was intrigued by the desire to empower the student within the classroom and to incorporate technology into all aspects of the classroom, such as research and creativity. In addition, I found the idea of networking student learning very interesting, as this enables teachers to build upon previously effective methods.

In the second blog I read, Wes presents a variety of Inauguration day activities that can be used within the classroom. He created a Historical Inauguration Jeopardy, allowing students to become involved in the historic inauguration while still incorporating technology. Students are given time to search online for answers, then allowed to challenge another class. Along with this idea, the Voice Thread is also an interesting idea. Students are given the opportunity to verbally post their ideas by microphone or cell phone, encouraging students to express themselves. Finally, Wes also explains the New York Times Interactive Inaugural Word page, permitting students to view the most popular words used on inauguration day. Not only this site hold historical context, but it also expands the vocabularies of students!

In his next blog, Wes discusses Brightstorm, a program which uses educational videos to prepare high school students for college. With the realization that teenagers tend to gravitate towards the internet as a resource, Wes uses this website to captivate the attention of learners. It is evident that he hopes to captivate learners in any way which will ensure student growth and development. He researches various mediums, working to find the most effective to teach a group of students.

The final blog I looked at really captivated my attention as it used various learning techniques, ending with the use of the internet. Previous to the elections, a Vermont middle school used various types of learning, beginning with students running through a mock election, then given the opportunity to cast their votes online, which will be tallied and available to teachers to use within the classroom. The students are given multiple opportunities to learn and voice their opinions. It is evident through the posts that I have read that Wes truly does all in his power to connect the education world with a variety of teaching methods used to engage students in their learning.