Furthermore, microblogging stood out to me because I had never really heard the term before and didn't realize there was a specific word for this. The textbook defines microblogging as a publicly accessible online post in which communicators use a limited number of words and symbols. The book also cites Twitter as an example for microblogging. There are many ways in which this could be incorporated into the classroom. Immediately, I had the idea that it would be fun to allow students to participate in an assignment during which they would have to use the microblogging format to explain a definition of a word for a vocabulary assignment. This would help the students to ensure that they are being concise and to the point with their work. In this case, I had not previously known that there was a term for this shortened form of blogging, but have heard of Twitter and the basic concept. Overall, I think that this would create a challenge for students and allow them to learn to be direct and concise with the information they're trying to convey. However, I don't think this type of writing style would work well in certain situations.
Moreover, another concept that intrigued me in chapter ten was differentiated instruction. According the text, differentiated instruction is "an instructional approach in which teachers create different educational experiences as ways to meet the learning needs of individual students." This is something that I think is extremely important because it's tailored to work towards improved learning for each individual student despite the different needs that need to be met in order for the student to succeed. Once again, I was familiar with the concept of the term but did not realize there was a different name for this term. However, I am a bit challenged to believe that this would work in every classroom especially based on the amount of students. This type of instruction is something that I could see working in a small classroom as opposed to a large one with numerous students.
In addition, chapter ten also introduced me to the world cloud. This is a visual representation that can display large amounts of written text in a visually engaging format on a computer screen. Software programs are able to take the most frequently used words while excluding conjunctions, prepositions, and other small words so they may highlight the most important words. These are extremely intriguing visual images that would draw students attention to the screen and subject. For instance, after having the class write a report on a book or novel that had been read and discussed, a teacher could use the software to create a word cloud as a tool to share the students most frequent and important concepts associated with the book.
Although, there were many interesting terms presented in chapter eight and ten, microblogging, differentiated instruction, and word clouds are those that stood out to me the most.
References
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Visual done using piktochart accessed 6 Mar. 2016
"Picture G" Image in piktochart by Meredith N.d. accessed on 6 Mar. 2016
http://www.wordle.net/
