Literature and Us

Reflection on wiki spaces

2010-04-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed learning a bit about wiki spaces and think it will be a great resource in the classroom. I think I might use it as a gathering place during a research unit as students research their various topics, then share what they have learned on wiki spaces. This way they can continue to refer to it throughout the year. What a fun way to make text-world connections! It's especially appealing because it is easy to use and it would not take a significant amount of class time to teach students how to use it.

Here is a link to my wikispaces contributions/lesson plan and artifact.

2010-04-12T18:11:00.001-07:00

So, after learning about internet safety, I think I'll edit some of the info. that I put on my facebook site...

I am thinking more and more now about how available information is today. We really have to be careful to always check our sources and be be cautious about what information we make available about ourselves. And, as teachers, we need to warn our students about the dangers of cyberspace.

2010-03-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

There were some really great ideas presented at the IIC presentation meeting. Both of my favorites had to do with history. The team that presented teaching loyalists vs patriots created a wiki site where students can access primary sources easily. I think that their assessment idea was great: watching the videos, checking out the sources, then picking a side. I think a site like this could be used in other ways as well, not just related to social studies. It could be used to dissect the different parts/themes of a novel.

My favorite was the group who presented "the road to the American Revolution." They included multiple technologies and focused on positive "I can" objectives. I like that they emphasized that their tech. would be useful to students, not just make them use a technology for the sake of using a technology. The fact that they included 14 full lesson plans is really impressive, and it is something that hopefully other teachers can easily access and implement in their own classrooms.

2010-03-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Digital Learners

This video is awesome! It is a brief presentation about how students today learn digitally. The author does a really good job of citing his sources. He uses a lot of really interesting statistics about how students learn and how much information they get from where. With every slide he posts a citation at the bottom of the page. So, I don't think that anyone can hold anything against him as far as copyright issues go. The only thing I wonder about is the song that he uses. According to the tutorials, you can't use more than 30 seconds of a song or 10%, whichever is less. But, for all I know, he got permission...

Van Gough

This video story was acceptable in that it only used 5 paintings from the same artist. If the author had used more, they would have needed permission. However, I worry that the video has zero citations for the information used. It was a short video, but either the author knew all of the information by memory, or they stole the information... It would have been great if they had posted citations at the bottoms of the slides, as the first video did.

2010-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Aww, sweet success. The IIC competition is over. Finally. I have to say that I most enjoyed using jing, because it was not hard to learn, and it is something I feel I can use with my students. I would love to be able to create writing tutorials for my students so that they can review on their own time if they need extra help.

2010-03-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Romney and I have been working on our IIC project and have learned a lot about jing- it's a great tool for teaching. We are now trying to figure out how to put jing into imovie so that we can edit the files that we made and string them together. If it works, it will be really neat...if not, I don't know how else to do it.

2010-02-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

Diigo is amazing! I am still have a long ways to go before I am a Diigo expert, but it has been fun learning the basics. It is a tool that I will definitely use as a teacher. The functions that I focussed on were tagging, highlighting, commenting, adding sticky notes (my favorite), and I also created 2 groups. It will be fun as I actually build these groups and have a chance to use them in the classroom. The first group that I created, called "English7" is one that I plan to use with my 7th grade class next year. Here students will have a chance to collaborate research and store materials that they are using. This will be especially beneficial for this age group because they have such a hard time being organized anyway. This will give them one place where they can go and find all of their notes.

2010-02-22T21:52:00.001-08:00

Here is my Lesson Plan for teaching a new technology in the classroom.

LESSON PLAN

PLANNING

Date: 22 February 2010 Class and Grade Level: English 7

Title: Research Project

Objectives:

Students will be able to

State Core Curriculum Standards:

6f Understand that writing is a tool for thinking: solving problems, exploring issues, constructing questions, addressing inquiry

6g Understand that reading and writing are interrelated: writers approach new reading experiences with enhanced appreciation for the text.

Inquiry/Research:

1a Establish a purpose for inquiry

1b Gather relevant information to answer questions

Concepts to Be Taught: Research to answer a question, learning to collaborate information and make critical commentary, informative writing

Materials Needed: Laptop and Projector to show examples and demonstrate Diigo

Strategies to be used: Modeling, gradual release of responsibility, questioning, inquiry

PERFORMING

Announcements:

Continuation from Previous Lesson: We just studied various literary works. For our last unit of the year, we will learn how to make connections between those literary works and how to answer questions concerning literature. To do this, we will develop effective inquiry skills using technology resources, coupled with the skills we have already developed in reading and writing.

Lesson Presentation:

A) Getting Started

a. Class discussion: why kinds of connections can we make between the themes we see in The Outsiders, and the world?

b. With projector and laptop set up, brainstorm with the class to come up with a question they have about literature studied throughout the year so far in connection with the world (text-world connection). Example: The Outsiders: How is gang violence prevalent today? How has it affected individuals and society? Explain that it is ok to have a few questions when first starting to research. Later the question can be made more specific.

B) Directing the Learning

a. Introduce Diigo. Explain how to install it, the most basic gadgets, and how I have used it in my own research. Look up an article addressing the question they have chosen. Model each of the following Diigo gadgets while skimming this article as a class (the object being not to model critical reading at this point, rather to show how to use these gadgets to foster critical reading).

i. Highlighting

ii. Sticky notes

iii. Tagging

iv. Writing and sharing comments

v. Saving the document and/or site to Diigo

b. Have one student come up and test out one or all of these areas to show how easy it is.

c. Talk about why this is effective/how students could use this to more easily answer research questions.

C) Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion:

a. Explain the research unit that we will be starting: Students need to find at least 6 articles or websites which they can use in their final research paper. Students should show in their Diigo database that they know how to think critically by using at least 1 sticky note per article, many highlights, commentary, and have tagged at least 2 related websites. By the third week, students will be required to share their findings with others and make at least 3 comments about others’ findings. All of this will help them in the final weeks to construct a research paper answering their inquiry question.

Assignment: Install Diigo and brainstorm research topic/question

2010-02-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

I have been looking around at different gadgets and changed my mind about what I want to learn about...I have been looking at Diigo and I love it! I feel like this is a gadget that students will be able use throughout the whole year, so I really want to put my time towards learning that instead of digital story telling. So, needless to say, I am a little behind...but am confident that I can catch up.

Diigo allows students to save websites and/orPDFs all in one place, and highlight, add sticky tabs, you name it. They can also collaborate and share these findings with others. I can help my students learn how to use it, and use it myself while I'm in college (I wish I would have known about it sooner).

2010-02-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

For my technology project, I would like to learn about Digital Storytelling. In my other classes we have been creating lesson plans and discussing how to assess students effectively. I think that if I can give students a way to share their ideas that requires them to synthesize in a creative way, such as creating a movie with words, the unit will be more meaningful for them and it will turn into something that they remember. Too often English teachers simply assign essays...and the students forget what they have written immediately after turning it in. A video would be something they can turn in but also save to be able to refer to later.

2010-02-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

I just finished creating at least the beginnings of my class website. I am excited to continue revision because I am seeing how I will be able to use it in my future classroom. My favorite gadget is googlereads, where can post ratings and reviews about books I think my students would like to read. I think this will allow for choice on the students part, as they look for books that mean something to them, and we use their reading experiences when we come together as a class.
Check out my website and give suggestions on how I can make it better!

2010-02-05T14:55:00.001-08:00

I recently spent a lot of time researching how to teach public speaking in the Language Arts classroom. I feel that this skill is one that is often looked over, which is sad considering that it is one of the few top skills that any regular citizen will need simply to be able to function within society, not to mention to contribute and be successful in it. I thought to myself, how can we fit it into the curriculum without pushing out other important subjects? Some scholars suggested providing impromptus during class, in order to get students used to speaking unplanned in front of groups. These speaking prompts can be used as bell-ringers or simply as in-class discussions where individuals have to share their thoughts. An effective way to do it at the beginning of the year would be to provide prompts that are comical, so that students are not scared off by public speaking from the beginning. I would be interested in ideas about how else we can better incorporate the development of public speaking skills in the Language Arts classroom.

2010-02-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading The Pigman, by Zindel, which talks about the "growing up" of two teenagers. We see how they begin to outgrow their selfishness and start to look more outward as they end up befriending an old man who they meant to play a prank on. They begin to recognize their place in a world larger than themselves.

So, I wonder how I would teach this in the classroom, or what kinds of projects I could incorporate into it? Ideas? If you havn't read it, I highly recommend it!

2010-01-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

I am excited about the fact that there are now so many teaching opportunities available via internet. One way that I plan to use the internet as an effective tool in the classroom is with grading and tracking progress. We expect students to be responsible and organized, but sometimes do not give them adequate tools to do so. It would be nice to have grades posted online somehow, similar to blackboard, or comments concerning projects, where the teacher can post advice and students can ask questions. This way they are learning how to better take control of their own schooling and they always know where they stand.

2010-01-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

ETA Journal: This blog touches on the more theoretical part of teaching. It presents current arguments on relevant issues such as the teacher-student relationship, the classroom aesthetic, and how to effectively teach below benchmark students.

English Lesson Plans: Although this blog includes ideas for younger students, it provides some valid ideas for high school or middle school English classroom that may prove to be useful.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence: This is a good starting point in where to find lesson plans and ideas for common Language Arts subjects.

National Council of Teachers of English: This is a great resource for staying connected with the education system in general, as it is constantly changing. It also provides great teaching strategies and provides access to the most current conversations that are going on about education today.

NCTE: Research in the Teaching of English: This is a great place to keep updated on the most detailed of research concerning the English classroom.

2010-01-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

2010-01-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

How do teachers avoid the self-labeling of students in a heterogeneous classroom? How do we balance setting high expectations, but at the same time teach to the needs of struggling students? How do we help them realize that they can do everything that the "smart" kids can do?
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