Web+2.0

Web 2.0 Essay
In this day and age, the use and comprehension of Web 2.0 is critical. I say this because unlike my generation, the students of today have been using the Internet since they could figure out how to say QWERTY. This means students that want fast access to technology and immediate satisfaction. Web 2.0 and its tools allow this to occur. From being able to manipulate social media pages to creating a website, the youth want to be able to do it and if the classroom is not providing some sort of technology integration in the form of Web 2.0 tools, the students will lose interest fast. While it’s important to integrate Web 2.0 into the classroom, there needs to be some sort of direction. I don’t think there would be much learning if you told the class to pull up any site using Web 2.0 tools, without first identifying ones that will be beneficial to learning. In order to avoid a Facebook takeover by my future class, I have browsed the Web 2.0 tools site and found several that I found interesting for classroom use. Here are 5 of them. //Student Publishing// allows your students to create a text, complete with their own illustrations, and have it put into paper or hardback format. This is a fun tool that allows the student to work on something educational without feeling like they are working on some boring project. There is no doubt this will be used in my Secondary English classroom, as it gets students thinking creatively, but at the same time paying attention to grammar, spelling and the important aspects of writing. One way I plan on using this in the class would be a book that students work on, somehow tied into a genre about which we have learned, throughout the school year. Near the end of the year, the books will be proofread and then submitted for publication. The students will receive their book when school lets out for summer.

Reflection
The artifact above is an essay on Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a great Internet resource for students and teachers alike, of which I had no knowledge before this assignment. Up until this essay, I was using the Internet for used guitar sales, news, email, and schoolwork. Knowing about Web 2.0 and what it can do for the classroom is a great new resource to have for myself and any future teacher. I found this project to be informative and enlightening about what resources are available, for free, online. It gave me renewed hope that not all my teaching ideas and resources have to come from me and school copy machine. The website mentioned in my essay, //Student Publishing,// is one way I plan on incorporating Web 2.0 in the classroom, among many more to come.