What comes first , pedagogy or technology?

Many teachers when trying to integrate technology into their lesson plans, end up getting dazzled by the wonders of webtools and run the risk of forgetting their real focus, the lesson goals.

Watch this video where I talk about Technology Integration:
http://www.tokbox.com/vm/knpej4mthrio

TokBox - Free Video Chat and Video Messaging

Guide questions we can ask ourselves when selecting a webtool to use:

1. What are the aims of the lesson?
2. What kind of extra practice do I need my students to have?
3. Which is the best tool to achieve the goals?
4. How am I going to propose the webtool task?
5. Where will my students do the task, at home, in class or at the lab? (Plan the time)
6. How will the students share their work? In edmodo, in a class blog, via e-mail?
7. What follow-up activity (closure) will we have?

It's essential to point out that you can only decide which is the best webtool to reach a certain goal once you have explored as many tools available.

Visit Zarco English - fantastic source of practical ideas

I´d like to dedicate my post today to a very talented Portuguese teacher called Alexandra Francisco who started blogging in 2008. Although she says she´s not tech savvy, I dare deny her after seeing her work and reading her great posts.

• She shares webtools she discovers in her great blog written in Portuguese TOOLS OF THE DAY.
  

• She has proposed assignments to her students in the ZARCO ENGLISH BLOG .

• She has created a great example of a STUDENT SHOWCASE BLOG sharing projects her students have developed so far.

 Isn´t she something? She´s shared it all, the tools, the assignments and practical examples of what her students have been producing. 

Click on the image for the ZarcoEnglish site.