Personal Learning Networks

National Council for the Social Studies Community Network - This is a site I would use to get ideas on how to teach various topics specifically in a social studies class. This site has a forum where teachers can interact with each other. There are also articles discussing what is happening in the field of social studies. I like this website because this is a site I know most social studies would refer to because it is reputable and is facilitated by the National Council for the Social Studies (the organization that sets the major standards for teaching social studies).

ASCD EDge - This site allows educators to collaborate, discuss, and ask questions about any subject. This site also provides other resources for educators to check out. I also like this site because social studies is very integrative, therefore this site would give me various resources to use to teach different aspects of social studies, such as literature if my students were to read a novel pertaining to a specific time period/event that we're studying in class.

The Educator's PLN - This site is the site that I used to find the previous two PLNs. I found this very helpful because if there was something that I could not find on this site, it had a list of other sites that I could refer to. This site also has videos and forums that allows educators to discuss whatever is happening in their classrooms.
 

Web 2.0 tools in Social Studies

For a lesson on how bills are passed in Congress, I could use OpenCongress. Using this website, I could pick out a random bill that is currently being reviewed in Congress and track the progress of it. This would give the students a real world example of the bill passing process. This site provides not only information about a certain bill, but it also provides the status of it and how many votes were for or against it. OpenCongress also allows students to interact with the site by allowing them to make a comment about a certain bill and contacting their representative/senator and even vote whether or not they support it. I believe that this is a great tool for students to learn about their government as well as become more aware of the issues facing the country today.

Another tool I would use is JeopardyLabs. I could use this website to create my own jeopardy game to help the students review for an upcoming test. This could be a fun way for the students to review the material gone over in class. I also believe it would be an effective way for them to remember the material. I could give the students some sort of reward every time they got a question correct. The students could also create their own jeopardy game, which allows them time to research a section in the book and then formulate their own questions about it. This is another effective way for them to review the material. 
 

Technology setbacks

Back in high school, I was beginning to write more and more research papers. Like many students I use Microsoft Word to write all my papers. However, one night I was pulling an all-nighter to write a 6 page paper. It was getting down to a few minutes before class was about to start, so I used spell/grammar check to go over my paper. A couple weeks later I got my paper back and didn't get the grade I expected. Turned out that my paper was full of sentences that didn't make too much sense and all my thoughts and ideas were all jumbled. Made me realize then, that while spell check is a great tool, I can't rely on it and should look over my paper one more time before turning it in.

Modern Technology in the Classroom

Today, almost everyone has a smartphone or tablet. So while looking in the app store on iTunes, I came across this app called American History Flashcard Maker. This app allows students to create their own flashcards or study off of ready-made flashcards. I believe that this app could be very beneficial for students because they can study on the go and not have to waste the time and effort of making index card flashcards. This app is also very beneficial because it sorts the cards that you get wrong from the ones you get right. There are also other flashcard maker apps so students of different grades can take advantage of what flashcard maker has to offer.