Plans for Blogging 2010-2011 School Year

During my Master’s program, I dove into blogging with several of my classes.  I have since used blogging in several ways and have found that with some classes/students, it becomes a fantastic learning experience, but with others, however, the assignment sometimes fails.      

This year, I am using blogs to allow students to complete journal assignments.  I have always used some type of journaling with my English classes.  I sometimes allow students to write very personal entries to share their reflections and other times, I give students some more specific assignments sharing ideas and thoughts about literature, writing, and other course-related issues.  I have my own class blog page that has links to all of my students’ blogs.  This way, they have easy access to assignments posted on my blog and can also easily get access to other students’ blogs for posting comments on their ideas.  Students use their own blogs as “journals” for their ideas and for posting assignments, but they also use other classmates’ blogs to respond to their ideas about literature and writing.

The End of Our Time Together…

Some final thoughts on the class…

 

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all of the programs and tools  in this class and discussing teaching strategies and ideas with these wonderful, experienced teachers.  I know we will all find many ways to use what we’ve learned to enhance our instructional methods and students’ learning.  Personally, I’m excited mostly to use blogs to allow my student to do online journaling and have discussions about literature.  I’m also excited about using multimedia programs such as photo story, Slide, Animoto, and Windows Movie Maker to have my students analyze what they read and explore themes, characters, plot development and much more.  

Our Last Day of Class:

Fire Alarm?!

It was so wonderful getting to know all of you – Congratulations to those of you who are done; good luck to all of you! 

Dr. Dave – thank you for another wonderful class!

Podcasting

What a brilliant tool!  Unlike with broadcasting, podcasts can be stored/saved for later and can be downloaded onto a computer or an mp3 player to be brought anywhere!  To create one, all you need is a microphone or video camera, a computer, and internet access.  I have seen the POD abbreviation explained as “Personal On Demand” or “Playable On Demand,” but I also read that the name actually originated from Mac’s iPOD. 

 

From discussing the uses of podcasts in the classroom with my grade 6-12 groups and the whole class, as well as reading Patricia Deubel’s article Podcasts: Where’s the Learning on THEjournal.com, I have developed a long list of possible, applicable uses. 

 

Podcasts can be used to provide weekly updates to classroom news/school announcements.  They can be used to allow students to learn about and review curricular content, to report on field trips, to record class dicussions (partners, small groups, whole class), to conduct interviews (specificially for the senior project would be helpful), to share book reviews/book talks, for student projects, to record teacher lectures or instructions (could be useful in instructing students or substitutes when absent), in oral history archiving, to communicate and collaborate information and learning with other schools and even countries, with readers’ theatre, audio recordings of chapters in novels or textbooks (especially for struggling readers/learners), for building vocabulary or foreign language acquisition, and even to capture sounds in the world and in nature.

 

I hope to use podcasts in several of the ways listed above, but I’d also like to use podcasts with poetry (and other writings) reading performance activities, with the how-to project that is required for 9th graders, and as an extension activity for other projects that I already use in my classes (like my tv/movie genre skits of Oedipus the King, for example).  By having only audio, students must pay specific, careful attention to the words and language they choose, and even how they speak.  These are such valuable and useful tools – not just for school, but as REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS. 

 

The use of podcasts in the classroom allow students to develop higher-order thinking skills, their ability to write, select facts, develop and organize ideas and content, and (effectively) communicate orally.  Personally, I think the most valuable part of creating any podcast is the process that students must go through in learning as they create the podcast and the discovery and understanding that they develop of the importance of using specific and precise language.  However, they’re also fun, and students will love being able to hear (and see with VODcasts) some of the incredible projects that they will create!

Photo Story and Windows Movie Maker

So, the other day, I messed around on photo story and found that to be a pretty simple and user-friendly program.  (I also want to try out Animoto, but I still haven’t gotten confirmation back from them after I registered…)  However, when I worked on Movie Maker yesterday, I really enjoyed it.  In fact, I think I would use Movie Maker even for picture slide shows as well as for editing videos.  Now, I know that several people in class had great difficulties with the program, but using my digital camera, I found no such problems.  This may partly have to do with the fact that I’ve used some slightly sophisticated editing software before (Adobe Premiere), but I found this program very simple and easy to figure out on my own. 

 

The only issue I had (after I had completing my silly video of Charlie and Sam tugging on a bone…) was getting the video to upload to zshare, which took a few minutes.  However, I am thrilled to show this program to my students (assuming it’s on the computers in the labs at school…) and to have them create videos inspired by what we learn in class this coming school year!  I might even use my Charlie and Sam video as a sample for them to see the basics of what you can do with the program…

Personal Webpages and Pageflakes

I have played around with my school website quite a bit since we got them and were “trained” on the program (School Center Web) a few years ago, and I have enjoyed being able to use many of teh features available as I create and alter my site.  I have tried out the threaded discussion board page (which I discussed in a previous blog post), the document manager (to allow my students access to assignments and information to reduce paper waste and extra copies), the contact form (so students and parents can easily contact me), and the other “newsletter-style” pages to share information about myself, display class projects, and provide links for students and parents.

 

Now, I have found my Hibriten High School website to be helpful and useful and mostly effective, but if I have access to Pageflakes at school, I think I will have even more options than what is available for me to use on School Center Web.  For example, I am excited to have the “Anything Flake,” which might allow me to add almost anything that I want my students to have quick access to.  Instead of having my students out and about in the wide world of the web, I can simply direct them to my Pageflakes site to have them have conversations on the message or discussion board; I can have them create their own and use the Pageflakes blogging options; I can put my delicious social bookmark site on my page for them to access certain pages, WebQuests, etc.;  they can access the dictionary, thesaurus, quote dictionary, word games, projects, and much more.  In fact, there are so many “flake” options on this site that I haven’t even had a chance to really play around with it much yet or customize my site quite the way I would like it.  I just have to find out how I can get unrestricted access to use Pageflakes at school… Let’s hope so because I see a lot of great opportunities opening up for my students’ learning thanks to this user-friendly webpage-maker!

Desktop Video Production in the Classroom

So much can be learned when connecting literacy and technology in this way in school.  In Foshay’s article, he mentions several ways that schools are and can use digital video and desktop production to enhance learning, such as broadcasting news and announcements over TV and having book clubs/discussions.

 

Students learn a great deal in the preparation and production of digital video when used in the classroom because it’s a process and they have a definite purpose and outcome for t heir work.  They want to perfect their final products, so if they know that they’ll be speaking or acting something out (and that themselves and others will see this…), they practice and learn the required material extremely well.  Teachers can integrate a great deal of content material, and students can have access to the information long-term.  (They can access the information by having their product on a DVD or having online saved access whenever they may need it in the future.)

 

Students can videotape and create skits, song lyrics inspired by readings, poetry, and much more.  (I have had students create skits demonstrating what they have learned in literature, and also I have had my freshman students use desktop video production to fulfill the “How-to-Project” requirements for 9th graders.)  It’s fun, and they get to use technology (and still meet the standards and criteria that teachers must meet…), and they don’t even realize that they are learning and practicing skills (like reading and writing).

 

Also, the videos can serve as assessment tools and can provide work samples and products for evaluation for the teacher.  Students can connect their lives to the classroom and what they are learning through written expression and desktop video production.

Skype!

I had heard of Skype, but I had never actually used it, and I didn’t really know much about it… Now, I am glad that I do.  First of all, when I went home and showed my husband on our computer, he was so thrilled because his Mom just learned how to use this program.  Now we can speak “face-to-face” from Boone to Florida or anywhere!

 

Almost everyone has the internet (or can get access to it) now, so there is hardly a need for a landline telephone anymore, especially since the world is full of cell phone users.  (We don’t even have a home phone anymore at my house – just cell phones.)  Skype is so wonderful because it is a free, easy way to keep in touch with people via instant messaging, phone (solely audio if no webcams are available), and even video phone for those who have access.  How fantastic!

 

Now, as far as school goes, I can actually see myself using this tool to allow students to communicate about what they are reading and writing in my classroom, as well as to communicate with others around the world!  In my world literature classes, specifically, I can see this as a valuable tool to allow students to learn about other cultures and parts of the world as we read and write by directly communicating with those in direct contact with these other cultures and areas of the world.  In his article on using technology and Skype in the classroom, Wesley A. Fryer mentions ePals for an easy way to safely find other classrooms with which to communicate, which I’m interested to try out. 

 

Doing literature circle discussions involving some major critical thinking could be applied by having my students speak about what they are reading with other around the country, as well.  These could be done very formally or informally, and I think that students would really thrive in this type of discussion environment.

 

Additionally, Skype could be a great way for teachers to keep in touch with parents and other teachers.  What a great tool!  I’m excited about this!

Online Multimedia

I didn’t get a chance to play around with all of the different programs/sites dealing with creating multimedia projects, but I can say that I already have some wonderful ideas for how to use these in my classroom.  I have seen Animoto used before, but had to await approval today, so I haven’t tried that out yet.  However, I was able to mess around on Slide for a while, and there are some pretty cool things that students can do with a program even as simple as this besides just showing pictures in a slide show.  First of all, many of my students get scared away when the term “creative writing” is mentioned.  What an amazing tool Slide could be in inspiring kids to write their own creative stories!  This tool can also be used to have students practice putting items in a plot-sequenced order.  One student could take pictures of what they might put together in a story, and another student or students might have to find creative, logical ways to put these in order, decide on themes and theme music, and inventive titles for stories.  I think my adolescent students would love a project like this!

 

Additionally, I played around briefly on  Voicethread and found that there are some far more in-depth ways that this tool can be used in my classroom.  Students can create stories as I mentioned above, or they can do book talks, book reviews, teach lessons themselves, digital storytelling, and many more wonderful teaching elements.  I’d especially like to play around with poetry assignments for my students on this site.  I love using photography and art with literature and writing, and usually my students do, too! 

 

I LOVE the idea of using multimedia tools online with students in school.  After completing a documentary project for my Issues in Teaching English course last spring, I was inspired to come up with ways to incorporate this type of project with my high school students.  Now, I am pleased to have even more new tools to explore in using with my students in the future!  How wonderful to engage students in active learning this way!

Thoughts on WebQuests

So, I’ve used WebQuests before, but after reading the Ikpeze and Boyd article, I realized that there is a lot more that I can do with it than I have been.  They say, “WebQuests allow students to think critically about an issue and use many skills to develop and defend an opinion.” WebQuests can be used for content learning and to conduct research in authentic, problem-solving environments.  Mainly, I have used WebQuests as a method of pre-reading (or sometimes during or post-reading) for students requiring them to research information on culture, history, author background, etc. before, during, or after reading a major literary work.  One WebQuest I use requires students to research WWI, France, and Germany before reading Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front.  Additionally, I use the Holocaust Memorial Museum Website to have my students to research on WWII and the Holocaust before beginning Elie Wiesel’s autobiography Night.  However, these don’t delve into the critical thinking category so much as mentioned in the Ikpeze and Boyd article.  So, I would like to come up with some new ideas for using WebQuests that do require my students to use more higher-order thinking skills to create and defend informed opinions on various topics relating to what we study, especially in literature.

 

One WebQuest that I frequently use with my world literature students (the idea behind which I borrowed from the SASinschool program…) that does take just the basic research element a step further involves the study of African proverbs.  We read Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, and students tend to struggle with some of the different cultural aspects of the society.  One of these elements is the proverbs that the Ibo people continually throw into conversation.  So, in order for my students to better understand what they are reading, as well as more about the African culture, we do a structured WebQuest that leads students through a variety of websites with lists of African proverbs.  While learning about the culture in reading them, students must also find examples of proverbs that show metaphor, alliteration, rhyme, and parallelism.  Then, the culminating activity involves creating their own African proverbs using these elements. 

 

Some of the most signficant problems (as almost always with Internet-based learning) are navigational disorientation, information overload, and distraction.  I find that most of my students, since they are in high school, have very minimal issues with nagivational disorientation and information overload.  Where my biggest problem lies is in student distraction… There is so much out there on the Internet that students want to and can find that it can become an issue with regards to student learning.  I find the best (and maybe only) ways to help avoid this issue are 1) to require students to keep track of and chart where they get their information as they are searching, so as to avoid them running into unnecessary distractions, and 2) for the teacher to constantly monitor what the students are doing as they work in class.

 

I find that my students thrive when given the opportunity to use technology and also when assignments allow them to search for new information that helps in their understanding of literary works, as well as when this information allows them then to also think creatively, reflectively, and critically about what they have been reading and studying in class.  I love the summative quote in the Ikpeze and Boyd article that states, “Helping students make connections between what they read and the world around them is a catalyst for thoughtful literacy.”  I truly think that effective WebQuests are an excellent way to achieve this in any classroom because internet learning places significant cognitive demands on learners to make appropriate connections between concepts.

Social Bookmarking

I wish I had known about social bookmarking before I got a new computer…

 

This is a great tool!  I think that one of the biggest values is that other people have essentially already done the work of searching for great sites for me!  Instead of having to go to a million sites before finding one that’s actually useful, I can use what others have already searched to find what I need.  This is especially valuable for teachers in finding resources.  Then, no matter where I am, I can get access to favorites (no matter what computer: home, school, etc.).  Then, I can set up tags of bookmarked sites for students to use for research or other activities on the internet, and they won’t just be on any random sites taht they don’t need for the assignments or shouldnt be on…

 

I’m excited about using this tool in the future!