Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Video Games
Gee's basic argument is that good video games include a lot of cognitive learning strategies that are often not, but should be, used in a typical classroom.
Before reading this article, I had a very negative opinion of video games as learning tools. Gee's argument is difficult to disagree with, however. Many of the skills that young adults and children learn in video games can help prepare them for the 'real world' even better than much of what they are being taught in school. Though content can be taught, it is more about the way in which it is delivered. I agree with Gee that the video game must be a "good" game and I believe that while most games support Gee's article, I would not suggest many of them for younger children due to their adult content and graphic images.
Scratch can be used in the classroom to motivate creative thinking. Like good video games, it helps the student to become part of the lesson by creating his or her own world through directing the action and appearance of his sprite.
Before reading this article, I had a very negative opinion of video games as learning tools. Gee's argument is difficult to disagree with, however. Many of the skills that young adults and children learn in video games can help prepare them for the 'real world' even better than much of what they are being taught in school. Though content can be taught, it is more about the way in which it is delivered. I agree with Gee that the video game must be a "good" game and I believe that while most games support Gee's article, I would not suggest many of them for younger children due to their adult content and graphic images.
Scratch can be used in the classroom to motivate creative thinking. Like good video games, it helps the student to become part of the lesson by creating his or her own world through directing the action and appearance of his sprite.
Blogging With 5th Graders
I really enjoyed the blogging exercise with the 5th graders. I think that we can provide them with a different perspective than that of their teachers. I was surprised that they weren't encouraged to type more for their essays. I want to use blogging in my classroom, but I would expect as much work done in a blog as I would in an essay.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Scratch
Though I am still learning what Scratch is completely, (I'm in the process of downloading it now so that I can try it out for myself) I found one on the Scratched site that looks interesting and useful for an english classroom. It's called a wikiScratch Picture Dictionary. While it is still an idea in progress, it gave me the idea to use it in the classroom for vocabulary words. Each student would have a word of their own and could contribute to a final dictionary that would include all of the words. Each page would contain the word spelled correctly, a picture, and perhaps the phoenetic spelling and a sentence containing the word. Not only would you have a final dictionary at the end of each unit, you could put all of the units together at the end to incorporate all of the vocabulary words for the year.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Makeup Work: My Think Aloud
Click here to see the published version of my Internet Literacy Think Aloud.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Convergence Culture
Convergence culture, as Henry Jenkins explains it, is a collective media. Every medium is connected, creating a flow of information. It is a cultural rather than a technological process. He explains that old media is not replaced by new, as many believe, but is instead blended with new to create this convergence. As educators, we have an opportunity to utilize skills and applications in technology in order to better reach a younger generation. We must embrace these practices and learn to use them effectively rather than ignoring them in our classrooms. In today's classes, many children are either being taught that social networking and other digital tools are not safe, educational, or productive in any way. However, in today's businesses, these are the practices that are being used by those at the top. It is our responsibility to teach our students the skills necessary to succeed in today's world. They should not be limited to digital tools, but should instead be shown the safe, effective and educational ways to use them.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Is the Northwest Octopus Becoming Extinct?
No, it isn't. In fact, this creature doesn't exist. What does exist, however, is a hilarious internet hoax created by a man named Lyle Zapato.
At first glance, the site entitled "Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus From Extinction" seems legitimate. It is divided into sections including: an about section, why it's endangered, how you can help, frequently asked questions, sightings and media.
After reading through the site, I realized that it was a joke but young children may not catch on so quickly. Here are some steps that I took that could be used to verify the credibility of other, less obvious, sites.
First I noticed that the website was a .net site which lessened its credibility. In the corner of the site, there was a logo that read "site monitored by NSA". When I clicked on this logo, it took me to another webpage with comics. I noticed that these logos changed to appear as ads that said things like, "Are you infected with black helicopters?"
The site mentions that it is supported by greenpeas.org which I, after googling it, realized doesn't exist. The bottom of the site says to address concerns to Lyle Zapato. When I googled his name, I got a range of results that led me to believe that he has written books. This may seem credible at first. I then googled "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" and found a wikipedia page that informed me that this creature was an internet hoax created by Lyle Zapato. This google search also yielded results from websites such as museumofhoaxes.com.
At first glance, the site entitled "Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus From Extinction" seems legitimate. It is divided into sections including: an about section, why it's endangered, how you can help, frequently asked questions, sightings and media.
After reading through the site, I realized that it was a joke but young children may not catch on so quickly. Here are some steps that I took that could be used to verify the credibility of other, less obvious, sites.
First I noticed that the website was a .net site which lessened its credibility. In the corner of the site, there was a logo that read "site monitored by NSA". When I clicked on this logo, it took me to another webpage with comics. I noticed that these logos changed to appear as ads that said things like, "Are you infected with black helicopters?"
The site mentions that it is supported by greenpeas.org which I, after googling it, realized doesn't exist. The bottom of the site says to address concerns to Lyle Zapato. When I googled his name, I got a range of results that led me to believe that he has written books. This may seem credible at first. I then googled "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" and found a wikipedia page that informed me that this creature was an internet hoax created by Lyle Zapato. This google search also yielded results from websites such as museumofhoaxes.com.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Exploring Delicious
For the Delicious activity, I chose the website Classroom 2.0.
This website seems very helpful to me as an educator, especially since I am new to the teaching tools that technology provides. This site offers a "Beginners Group" so that people (like me!) can receive extra help. Classroom 2.0 includes articles, other teachers' blogs, and chat options with other teachers. It would be a great tool for learning more interesting and effective ways of teaching, and for receiving help when it is difficult to understand how to use a new tool.
This website seems very helpful to me as an educator, especially since I am new to the teaching tools that technology provides. This site offers a "Beginners Group" so that people (like me!) can receive extra help. Classroom 2.0 includes articles, other teachers' blogs, and chat options with other teachers. It would be a great tool for learning more interesting and effective ways of teaching, and for receiving help when it is difficult to understand how to use a new tool.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Would Socrates Approve of WebQuests?
After reading the article, "What Would Socrates Say?", I believe that Socrates would approve of WebQuests as long as the following standards were set.
The article says, "Mass education belongs in the era of massive armies, massive industrial complexes, and massive attempts at social control" which leads me to believe that Socrates would be pleased with the way technology has made it easier for individuals to contribute to a group. However, I believe that along with a final group presentation, each student should turn in his individual contribution and that along with a group evalution, the student should be given an individual evaluation. This ensures that each member of the group is learning and developing his/her knowledge of the WebQuest content.
Another problem is the lack of an educational filter in the internet that separates the credible from the non-credible. The article says, "Every day we are exposed to huge amounts of information, disinformation, and just plain nonsense. The ability to distinguish fact from factoid, reality from fiction, and truth from lies is not a "nice to have" but a "must have" in a world flooded with so much propaganda and spin". Socrates would be appalled by the disinformation that students have access to. A proper WebQuest must make sure that the websites and information that it presents are credible and that the students are using proper sources to conduct their research.
According to the article, "He believed that learning came from within and that the best and most lasting way to bring latent knowledge to awareness was through the process of continual questioning and unconventional inquiry", therefore Socrates would be pleased with the question and answer process that search engines provide IF all of the answers were factual. To comply with Socrates's beliefs, a WebQuest should ensure both individual and group responsibility, demonstrate responsible use of the internet's credible sites, and allow student's to ask and answer questions in order to obtain answers or gain knowledge.
According to "A Taxonomy of WebQuest Tasks", my WebQuest falls under the category of "Journalistic Tasks" because it asks learners to act as reporters and cover the events of the 1920's.
The article says, "Mass education belongs in the era of massive armies, massive industrial complexes, and massive attempts at social control" which leads me to believe that Socrates would be pleased with the way technology has made it easier for individuals to contribute to a group. However, I believe that along with a final group presentation, each student should turn in his individual contribution and that along with a group evalution, the student should be given an individual evaluation. This ensures that each member of the group is learning and developing his/her knowledge of the WebQuest content.
Another problem is the lack of an educational filter in the internet that separates the credible from the non-credible. The article says, "Every day we are exposed to huge amounts of information, disinformation, and just plain nonsense. The ability to distinguish fact from factoid, reality from fiction, and truth from lies is not a "nice to have" but a "must have" in a world flooded with so much propaganda and spin". Socrates would be appalled by the disinformation that students have access to. A proper WebQuest must make sure that the websites and information that it presents are credible and that the students are using proper sources to conduct their research.
According to the article, "He believed that learning came from within and that the best and most lasting way to bring latent knowledge to awareness was through the process of continual questioning and unconventional inquiry", therefore Socrates would be pleased with the question and answer process that search engines provide IF all of the answers were factual. To comply with Socrates's beliefs, a WebQuest should ensure both individual and group responsibility, demonstrate responsible use of the internet's credible sites, and allow student's to ask and answer questions in order to obtain answers or gain knowledge.
According to "A Taxonomy of WebQuest Tasks", my WebQuest falls under the category of "Journalistic Tasks" because it asks learners to act as reporters and cover the events of the 1920's.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Adapting a WebQuest
I have found a pre-existing WebQuest that I like a lot: Gatsby Meets the Press
The reasons I have chosen this WebQuest are:
The reasons I have chosen this WebQuest are:
- An essential part of understanding literature to its highest potential is understanding the time period in which it was written and/or takes place. This project helps readers to understand the Great Gatsby by understanding the culture of the roaring 20's.
- This project incorporates research, history, reading and comprehension skills along with journalistic writing skills. It also encourages exploration of the newspaper, a medium that students are not often asked to use.
- Each student has his or her own pages to create, yet it all comes together as one newspaper, encouraging individual and group effort.
The things that I will be changing are:
- The Introduction - I will be rewording the introduction to make the expectations a little clearer to the student
- The Task - I will be eliminating the competition aspect of the project in order to provide a less hostile working environment and allow more focus on the creation of the project rather than the finished product itself.
- The Process - I will be taking away the option of research. Students must do research to incorporate in their project. I will also be providing links to help with this research.
- The overall look of the WebQuest will also be changed
The things that do not need changed are:
- The grammar does not appear to need changed or corrected.
- The links provided are relevant and helpful and are also working.
- The creator has already given permission for use of the WebQuest, so I will not need to request it.
This looks like a fun activity that I would definitely incorporate in my own classroom.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A good teacher...
This is my video which briefly represents the qualities that I consider are essential for a good teacher to possess.
I am having trouble getting my video to show up on Teacher Tube, but when I figure it out I will post the url.
I believe that it would be beneficial to students to have them doing photo essays along with traditional written essays. However I feel that the amount of written essays should exceed the number of photo essays in a language arts classroom in order to improve grammar, syntax, etc. Photo essays and creative projects of this sort comply with almost all of the NETS by developing creativity, innovative thinking, planning and problem solving. It is also an interesting way to help students learn to express their thoughts and channel them to create a visual representation that may, in fact, enhance the viewers understanding in a way that words are limited.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Libraries aren't for being quiet anymore..
The following is a link to the NMH Library Blog - http://nmhlibrary.typepad.com/
As a secondary education major, I was immediately drawn to the NMH Library Blog. Reading becomes an increasingly difficult subject to interest today's "instant gratification" generation in. I am always interested in learning new ways to make students more excited about reading. I also believe in the importance of both school and public libraries and feel that general library knowledge is being overlooked in today's education. The NMH Library Blog combines technology with traditional library knowledge in order to reach a new generation of students.
The things I find most effective and creative about this blog are:
3. (b) collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
3. (c) communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
As a secondary education major, I was immediately drawn to the NMH Library Blog. Reading becomes an increasingly difficult subject to interest today's "instant gratification" generation in. I am always interested in learning new ways to make students more excited about reading. I also believe in the importance of both school and public libraries and feel that general library knowledge is being overlooked in today's education. The NMH Library Blog combines technology with traditional library knowledge in order to reach a new generation of students.
The things I find most effective and creative about this blog are:
- Librarians choose a "Lounge Lizard of the Week" (a student who frequents the library) and post his or her picture along with a quote. This gets students involved and serves as a reward.
- Book recommendations are often given. Not only do the librarians post recommendations that are accompanied by a brief summary and a picture of the book, but also student recommendations are posted along with the student's own words and picture.
- The blog also posts activities and media that can be found in the library so that parents can track what their children are participating in within the school.
3. (b) collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
3. (c) communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
First Post :)
Technology really is an adventure for me because, despite the technology surrounding my generation, I am truly inept. I would rather do schoolwork through hard copies of assignments and grades, would rather speak to a person than email them, and get easily disoriented when it comes to "self-checkout". The problem with this attitude is that we live in a world where technology is the norm..and it is always progressing. My goal by the end of this class is to not only learn different methods for reaching a digital-age student body, but to also learn an appreciation for technology altogether.
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