ICC Finalists

I liked the video that discussed diigo and mindmeister because I think those strategies are more realistic and applicable to me than the others. As an English teacher, I need ways to help students better their writing and learn through technology without taking away from the goals of the classroom.

Both technologies have pros and cons. The pros of diigo are that students will be aided in learning the 5 paragraph essay and the writing process will go faster. Cons of this technology are that the 5 paragraph essay is a curse on our nation and the continued teaching of it only reinforces the use of it in standardized tests.

Mindmeister is good because it helps students organize their thoughts and especially move and shift things around as they get new ideas, but it can be bad because other ways of writing down thoughts (such as illustrations and doodles) can't be typed.

All in all, if there were one technology I would use out of all that were presented, it would definitely be mindmeister, and I plan to do so.