Final Project
Here’s my final project!
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Here’s my final project!
I do not plan on this being my last post. I have had a great time learning abou the different tools available on-line (for free) for educators. I am very excited at the prospect of incorporating web 2.0 technology into my classroom. Our students are changing and we need to best prepare them for their future, a future which we don’t know what will be in store for them. How do we best prepare them? I would say the way that we were best prepared as students. Teach the content and technology with the goal of creating a general interest in learning. If I am to solely teach the constitution and how to use a wiki, my student’s learning will stop there. If I try to show my students the benefits of being a lifelong learner and show them what an inquiry-rich life can be, I think I will have done them a great service.
One of the things I wil take away is that although these tools are really sweet, they are meant to enhance quality education, not replace it. I really liked Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy that I found during one of the 21st Century conferences.
The element I chose to look for in YouTube was Digital Literacy. The following short video illustrates the importance of not only knowing where to find information on the web, but also knowing how to look for it.
Unfortunately, on my test I got… a failing grade…some of the working was a little hard to understand. I think you bring up a good point though Maureen, it’s interesting that there isn’t something like this available in the U.S. or that has been made in the U.S.
As far as who should be teaching Digital Citizenship, I could see it going into the Social Emotional Standards and being taught that way. I would say its up to each teacher to work with their students to practice the right etiquette online. It wouldn’t hurt for students to hear the same message over again about being safe online.
On Classroom 2.0 one of the most interesting things I found was a discussion on cell phones. An undergrad student posed the question: should students be able to use cell phones in class? I found the questions very intriguing. The results were overwhelmingly in support of having cell phones. A lot of teachers expressed their strong support for the use of cell phones. A few teachers talked about wanting to use them, but not being able to use them. Conversely, on a different teacher website (can’t remember which) there was a whole article talking about why we should definitely not have cell phones.
This got me thinking, I think that our students are ever changing and we as teachers have to change with them. If we hope to reach the students we need to make sure that we are doing what we can, with what interests them. After using the wikis the students showed a level of exuberance I have not seen all year. Essentially, they were answering some of the basic questions I would have asked on a worksheet, but they got to interact with their peers which was what really got them excited. What does this have to do with cell phones? I think we need to embrace technology and properly teach our students (and some adults) proper cell phone etiquette and the rules for their use.
This blog post has to do with Literacy and the importance we put on it as teachers and how we can sometimes indirectly use independent reading as a punishment. The author brings up a great point. If a student is misbehaving during a group activity we have them read alone as a consequence. This unfortunately sends the message that what they are doing as a group is more “valuable” than what they are doing as individuals.
There are some parallels that we can draw with this and work on the computer. So far this year I have had “alternate” work for students who are not able to work well on the computer. I try not to make non-computer based work a punishment, but what should you do if a student is on a computer and they are not able to work on that computer responsibly?
Here’s the link:
Gmail is by far my favorite e-mail service. Everything that Google provides for its users from the basic search to the google docs application to Google sites is incredible. When I first started building a website for my class, I used Google sites. Since then I have ceased to use it, and am now fully on a wiki, but the ease with which I was able to create the site was very appealing.
I am able to use google in the classroom in three different ways:
1. Google Docs
2. Gmail
3. Google Reader
Docs I have not yet used with my students, but I hope to at one point have them be able to use Google Docs to collaboratively either work on a file or so that I may work with a student to edit a paper while we are both in front of a computer.
Google Reader I use to keep abreast of new resources or news stories that may be worthy of using with my students. Although it could be overwhelming, as long as I get in the habit of looking at my reader every day or two, I should be fine.
I was able to quickly find both tons of “junk” and “gems” on YouTube. What I really like about it is the ease of finding so many videos on anything. In order to find something educational I simply typed in one of my students’ vocabulary terms: “electoral college” which yielded the following:
Although the video quality isn’t the greatest, I feel that being able to use these sources would be very helpful to student learning. I have used Flikr images as journal prompts. I have also used YouTube videos. Additionally, in practicing a few summarizing and inference questions, I can use short video clips to ensure the students understand the content so that we may focus on the inference portion of the lesson.
Podcasting… my radioshow host dream has come true…
I enjoyed creating my podcast, I must say it wasa bit embarrassing at first. I am very impressed with GarageBand. It is very easy to use and made the project easy. After a few different takes, I finally got it. I am very excited at the prospect of using this in class. I already used it in Social Studies to record a section in the text book. Students then went on the class wiki and listened to the chapter then answered questions. I found that reading text was much easier than creating text.
I will be using podcasting in the new year to have students present an oral project, or to post additional study aids for those students who need it.
I can see podcasting serving two essential purposes:
1. Professional Development, planning and collaboration for the educator
2. Differentiation, sharing of information, creating interactive projects with students
So far I have only used podcasting in the first way. I have a variety of podcasts I subscribe to in iTunes from iTunesU. Already this year, I have shown a short video from TED to my Spanish class, had it not been for iTunesU, I would not have had any idea that this resource was available. Additionally, I have subscribed to the K12 Online conference. Having the different conferences at my fingertips is great. I feel like with the podcasts my iPod is starting to be used to its full potential. The “P” in podcast is GREAT!
The next step will be to incorporate the podcast into my teaching. I can see using podcasts in the Spanish class. They can be used as a review or for additional help for a student who is struggling on a particular topic being covered. One great example I have seen is on asisehace.net (Thanks for the rec. Briana!)
I chose to star this website a while back because I thought it would be a great resource to use with my Social Studies class. Although I would have to change the wording to Spanish (which might change the meaning). It looks like it could prove to be a great resource to incorporate into instruction.
Bill Ferris writes about using political cartoons in instruction in the Instructify Blog. He links two great resources:
University of Nebraska Libraries Digital Collections
Also, there are many useful tags on the left that i clicked to browse aroung to look for different resources as well.
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