The Bestest.

Take a look here.

Final Reflection

• What do you feel is the most useful technology (or teaching approach) you have learned this semester?

  It is difficult to say that there is one "most" useful technology that I have learned this semester, simply because I have learned so much. I value what I've learned, including google reader, google sites, google calendar (I now use it), blogger, prezi, and wikis. Perhaps the most useful, however, was in my personal technology project, learning about online, self publishing. I am very excited to take that technology into the classroom! Perhaps it is because I am an English major, and I love books unabashedly, but learning how to use and publish a book on that website was particularly enthralling.

I also am really excited to use google sites in the classroom. I had no clue about that stuff, but now I can totally use it like it's nothing. It is a tool in my hand I intend to use.

• How do you plan to use this or other technologies in your future teaching?

  I plan on using the self-publishing site, wordclay, in the classroom to create student anthologies. I also may have students create their own, personal anthologies of what they've written in class, especially if the class has them write a lot. I love writing, and teaching writing, so I hope that will be a part of what I do in the future.

• How can you use technologies (the ones we learned or others) to engage your students in ACTIVE learning?

 Students are engaged when they feel like the work they do is valuable. Knowing that other people (besides myself, the teacher) will read what they've written makes it more important to them that what they create is quality stuff. Having a class website, blog, and using self publishing give that to students in a way that I would not be able to create on my own as their teacher.

When it comes to wikis, I was really excited by the possibilities I saw in it. Depending on the class being taught, and the students in it, I believe that wikis could make classes more interactive, valuable, and engaging for students. Personally, I am taking a teaching grammar class right now, and a particularly valuable resource is the class wiki. It is a lexicon of grammatical examples. I intend to use it in planning lesson plans like monks used feathers in writing Bibles. Wikis can be so valuable. Doing something like that, with the wiki examples, or creating a class study guide wiki for whatever class it is, could really enhance students' learning!

Wordclay

Here is a link to an anthology I assembled of poems and short stories that I have written. I published this book using wordclay.com, a self-publishing website.

It is, as Derrida would say, textually fabulous!

Personal Technology Project Proposal

One of my teaching teachers, Brenda Burr, loves to tell stories. She told us many stories about her experiences as an English Teacher, and she gave us good advice. Once she said, "Students love to feel like their work is important. Why not publish student works? It could be online, or through a writing contest, or you could compile your students' works in class. They love having their stuff be important -- not only to you, but to the outside world."

That is why I've decided to look into the self publishing websites for my personal technology project. I think it could be very useful to have a knowledge of how to use one of these websites in an English classroom.

I looked at both of the websites suggested, and I think I prefer wordclay. It looks more professional, and it seems easier to navigate.

There are a couple of things that I would use this technology for in the classroom. The first, is for ambitious student writers (especially in a writing class). For some classes, I will have big projects that students can self-publish here. They also can publish their portfolio here, compiling all their work from the class into one book. They also can compile their works into small group anthologies or class anthologies. I am most interested in students putting personal projects together and publishing it that way, and classroom anthologies for the entire class.

I will be putting together an example of a student's personal anthology. I will pretend that I have been taking a creative writing class, and this project will be the sum of all my work in that particular class. Students will be able to design it themselves, including the cover, layout, and illustrations or photographs.

It is a very exciting project! I have never used anything like this before, and I am excited to learn all about this technology. It is so cool.

Internet Safety, Part II

I talked to my Mom about internet safety. This is what she told me when I asked:

"Give out no personal info- like phone number or address
chatrooms aren't worth it - they're not safe
gmail chat with someone you already know is fine
computers should be in a main living area."

Then I asked her about online dating, and this is what she said:

"No online relationships!"

But then I asked her if she knew what any of the rules are, regardless of whether or now you SHOULD ever have one:

"risky, though some work out. Like Nathan (my cousin).
I mean, this is not someone you already know, but someone met on internet
it's not a good idea.
rules: reputable source, 3rd party source- not alone, backed up by someone reputable
public place, not alone, not at dark."

 I shared with her this website:

http://sites.google.com/site/technologyinahouseoflearning/learn-to-protect/learn-about-internet-safety

Because I felt that it has a lot of good links to information about internet safety. I felt that the conversation went really well. My Mom already knows a lot about internet safety, so she didn't feel like I was preaching at her or anything. We were just sharing what we knew. It was a really good conversation, actually!

Internet Safety, Part I

There are a lot of videos out there about internet safety. I found this video to be especially compelling. Its visual rhetoric is spot-on:



This one's just funny:



These are some of the articles that I read, and found especially insightful:

Just a Game? by Charles Knutson
Things as They Really Are by David Bednar
Parenting in the Internet Age by a panel of experts

1. What were the most important things I learned from the readings?

The most important thing I learned, in my opinion, is that parents must be vigilant and responsible when it comes to their children and the internet. It's about keeping them safe, healthy, and happy. Children need to be protected and guided.

2. How will what I have read influence my actions as a parent and/or teacher of children and youth?

I feel that being a teacher is similar to being a parent. The warning was going out to parents, and true, teachers have less control over and less responsibility for a child, but the influence and responsibility is still there. There is a lot of good that a teacher can do for a child in their classroom. I will take that responsibility seriously.

3. How can I use what I have learned from the reading to have a positive influence on family and friends?

Being safe is a positive thing. If I am not paranoid, nor overbearing, my influence to make everyone a little safer will be a good thing.

4. Am I aware of the benefits and dangers children face when online with cyber bullying and online predators? Do I know how to prevent cyberbullying?

There is a lot to be learned online. Children have resources available to them that I didn't even have just a few years ago. There also are dangers - more dangers, perhaps, than I even faced - which must be avoided. Using simple precautions, such as not putting pictures, addresses, phone numbers, or gender specific user names, are a good way to start being internet safe.

5. Where can I go for information and resources that can be used to teach internet safety?

There are tons of resources online! The FBI has guidlines, but there also are other great resources online, such as simply youtube videos, or Ensign articles. The church has published safety guidelines, even.

6. What internet safety issues am I likely to face as a teacher and how will I address them?

Using a class website or class blog presents some safety issues. Luckily, I can privatize these things so that only certain users can view them. I can also be sure to caution my students about the hazards of cyber citizenship.

7. How can I leverage the power of the Internet so students can learn, but in a safe way?

Students are smart. They want to be safe. By telling them specific guidelines for internet safety, I have already made them safer. I can show them good resources for using the internet - where to go, how to research, stuff like that.

Tumblr

A friend of mine mentioned Tumblr to me on Sunday, and I decided to check it out.

It's freaky awesome.

It's like a blog, but so much more: You can simply email things to the site and have it posted that way, as well as posting it from the tumblr site. You can reblog things easily, and it has its own tumblr reader.

My favorite thing, as a future teacher, is the moderator aspect. On a blogger blog, for example, you can have multiple authors, but there isn't a device for moderation, as far as I can tell. Tumblr, on the other hand, does. Isn't that lovely?

So, imagine me, an English teacher (yippee!) with a classroom blog. I use blogger. One of my kids is having trouble at home, so (s)he makes trouble on the blog: posting inappropriate things, be it pictures, words, or other. I don't check the blog that day, and half of my students, being in love with English (of course), get on and see it before I have a chance to take it down.

Parents get angry. Students get scared. The administration gets involved, including the school board, and possibly my Bishop, too. My blogging days are over.

Now refocus.

Instead, I use tumblr, and the same situation happens. Instead of everyone seeing the post, I have to approve it, so it doesn't go on until I see it, and I don't post it because I'm responsible, and I have the opportunity to take that student aside and address the deeper issue at hand without a mob of angry parents leaping down my throat, wondering why their child's class blog had swear words on it. Or whatever. It could get really out of hand, you know. Especially in middle school.

The likelihood is that a student wouldn't even be inclined to even submit such a post knowing that I moderate it.

I haven't done VERY much on tumblr, but I think it might be a very attractive option for a classroom blog.

Here's a link to my tumblr blog:

My Tumblr!

"The Inferno" by Dante Alighieri Book Trailer

My multimedia assignment:

New Storyboard.

Well, I decided to change my project, because it wasn't very good, and I want to do a book trailer like Betsy, because her's is really, really cool. Why can't mine be really, really cool, too? So I'm putting together a book trailer for Dante's Inferno. Mostly because it's the coolest poem/book ever written. Ever. And people need to know this. Also, this project connects to the Utah state core (12th grade):

Standard 2 Objective 2:
(Extended Writing): Write to critique literary text and to evaluate informational text. (Emphasize expository writing. Students should use the entire writing process to produce at least one extended piece per term, not necessarily limited to the type of writing emphasized at individual grade levels.)

Standard 3 Objective 2:
(Written Communication of Inquiry): Write to evaluate and report research results.

1. Select an appropriate format to evaluate information, determine results and make recommendations.
2. Gather, evaluate, and organize research on a specific topic.
3. Support main points using a variety of convincing and relevant information.
4. Use informal and formal citations, where appropriate, to support inquiry.

The assignment will be to put together a book trailer for a book that they've read. The point will be to show that they've read the book, understand the mood or tone of it and the central conflict, and can put it together in a creative, appropriate way that is properly cited.

______________________________________________________________
(Black screen, white words)

"An impossible goal: to journey to heaven."

_______________________________________________________________
The way, guarded by three terrible beasts:

a Lion...

a Leopard...

and a she-wolf:

____________________________________________________________________

Taken through the back door: the mouth of hell:

Through the misery and abjection of Satan's realm...

Facing Satan himself.

____________________________________________________________________

All for the love of a woman.

_____________________________________________________________

Pictures taken from, in order of appearance:

1. Nebula:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2941486988/sizes/z/in/photostream/

2. Lion:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1216973

3. Leopard:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1216973

4. Wolf:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=991793

5. Gate:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=517155

6.Grotesque:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=318744

7. "Rage" Face:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=831836

8. "Ugly" Face:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=671857

9. Green Monster:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=586884

10. Skeleton:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1263040

11. Satan:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=456502

12. Woman Saint:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=547996

_________________________________________

The song I'll use is:

"Difficult to Breath" from:
http://freeplaymusic.com/search/keyword_search.php
#9 Keyword search "suspense."

Neither the images or the song I've used is under any known copyright.

Educating Alice

I found this blog, which was linked from one of the blogs I follow, and it is fascinating! Here's a link to one of the posts that I found especially interesting, called, "Book Blogging Kids." Basically, this program/assignment/however you'd do it (I think it would make a really great continuing assignment) is for students to choose a book (it could be from a list, or any book at all) and read it. When they're finished, they write a blog post reviewing the book.

I think this is a really innovative idea for using technology to excited students about reading. I can imagine students getting really excited about their opinions about a book (whether good or bad) being heard by an audience, possibly even just their classmates, but still! an audience! It also makes them aware of the world conversation. Conversations go both ways: the student reads a book, and then the student is able to respond to the world about their experience with that book. It helps give them a sense of the "so what?" question about "why read?"

Prezi

So I was reading Betsy's blog, and she had a post about Prezi, so I looked into it.

Whoa.

This is a totally rad tool to make a classroom with technology super entertaining, engaging, and keep students learning as much as possible! You can make really cool presentations on Prezi.

Here's a Prezi I put together, not too special, but I think it's pretty cool:

Heidi's First Prezi on Prezi

Storyboard, Etc.

I will be doing a video for this project. Here are the Utah State core standards that the use of this video as a teacher will facilitate teaching:

grade 10 core standard 1
objective 3.
(Comprehension of Literary Text): Comprehend literature by recognizing the use of literary elements across genres and cultures.

1. Examine the relationship between oral and written narratives.

2. Understand the uses of character development in conveying theme in literary works.

3. Analyze themes in literature and their connection to politics, history, culture, and economics.

4. Evaluate setting as it contributes to characterization, plot, or theme.

5. Analyze the use of simile, metaphor, pun, irony, symbolism, allusion and personification.

6. Compare poetry on different topics from varied cultures and times.

Standard 2
(Writing): Students will write informational and literary text to reflect on and recreate experiences, report observations, and persuade others.
Objective 1
(Writing to Learn): Interpret and analyze ideas and perspectives to clarify thinking through writing.

1. Analyze varied ideas and opposing opinions.

2. Analyze facts, events, or ideas to create meaning.

3. Identify and analyze assumptions and perceptions by examining connections between texts, between texts and self, and between texts and different world connections.

A huge difficulty that English teachers face is the challenge of changing media, meaning, films as the dominant literature source now. This assignment will help us as a class explore and examine the differences between film and text. Some of the differences are innate, and important. Reading is still a worthwhile pursuit today (and so is watching films), but some students don't see a difference in watching a film and reading a text. So, we're going to hit it hard with some close examination.

Obviously this kind of exploration necessitates a multimedia presentation. We must watch the video(s) in order to examine it(/them).

This video will facilitate a comparison in the classroom of texts and film interpretations of the text. We will examine and discuss the assumptions and perceptions that were made by the film interpreters of the original text through class discussion and then I would assign a paper that the students will write individually about what they saw as differences between the texts. They then will decide, on their own, if this means that reading is obsolete, or still valuable.

STORYBOARD

1). The narration will be something like: "Why read? All the greatest books have already been turned into movies!"

and it will look something like this:

...but it'll look a lot neater, because there will be actual book covers and movie poster images.

2.) Next will be a narration saying: "One of the greatest books ever written, Pride and Prejudice, has been turned into film time and time again"

and then there will be something that looks a little like this:

3.) Then there will be a series of movie clips. I will first show the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice, the proposal scene. Everyone loves that scene.

4.) Then I will have The Pride and Prejudice: a Latter-Day Tale version of the proposal scene.

5.) The I will have the Bride and Prejudice version of the proposal scene.

6.) Then I will have a simple screen that asks, "what are the similarities? Differences? How do these similatieis and differences affect meaning?

7.) Then the video will quote the actual text by Austen and discuss the similarities and differences, and why we think those interpretations chose to keep or change different lines, phrases, images, et cetera. There will be a non-intrusive song playing to keep it interesting.

8.) Then there will be a credit page, with music.

Dead Parents.

I found a link to this article in one of the blogs that I follow on google reader: "The Ol' Dead Dad Syndrome." In my YA lit class, we talked about what classifies and what characterizes a YA lit novel, and one of those common characteristics is dead parents -- whether it be one or both, there are lots of dead parents floating around in YA lit. Think of The Secret Garden, Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Hunger Games, or even stories as fundamental as Orphan Annie, or Anne of Green Gables, Cinderella or Jane Eyre. What do these all have in common? ORPHANS. If parents aren't dead, they oftentimes are conveniently out of the picture. Leila challenges readers and writers to both expect better story and character development and to create stories that are good as opposed to convenient-- maybe you need to have dead parents for the purposes of your writing (writing about death of a parent, writing about orphans, writing about foster care), but if it's in simple avoidance of the work required to create yet another character, Ms Sales calls it a "cop out."

I think this is fascinating! There's so much to do with this observation and opinion in a classroom. You could design an entire lesson plan or even smallish unit on this article:

1. Have students brainstorm books/stories that have dead and/or missing parents.

2. Ask them why they think that is, what functions could it serve, and then

3. Read the article as a class

4. and debate/discuss if Ms Sales is correct in her observation, and if they share her opinion, then

5. Write letters/emails to Leila Sales either telling her that you support/disagree or comment on the article as a class. then maybe you could

6. Write short stories that are YA-type stories that either involve parents or have dead parents, and then have students

7. Write an explanation about why they chose to include/exclude parents in their short story, and to what effect? and then you could even

8. Have students share their stories, explanations, and discuss the short stories as a class.

"A convenient story is not the same as a good story."

-Leila Sales, Author of the article

Mean Disney Girls (Copyright)

This is seriously so funny. It doesn't cite things like it should, and it uses more than 30 seconds of audio (though I'm not sure if this is different, because it is not a song, it is just movie audio, which it is less than 10% of, but still not cited).

At first, I thought, "this is sooooo not fair use," but then I remebered that parodies were permissible. I feel like this is a parody, or a critique on Mean Girls/Disney, in which case it would be permissible to use the audio/visual copyrighted material in this way.

Disney's Recycled Animation (Copyright)

Here is my first video for the copyright assignment. It's called "Disney's Recycled Animation." I thought it was an interesting use of fair use! I can't be sure how much is from each movie, and there was quite a bit from Snow White and Robin Hood, but the whole clip is 3 1/2 minutes, so I believe that no one movie was sourced more than 3 minutes worth. Also, it uses a song that is a free download, and it looks like a legitimate free download, too. The free download place is sourced in the video comment.

Finally, this is very much so a critique on Disney animation. I feel like I know something valuable by watching it: I had no idea that they could recycle animation, but boy do they ever.

The one problem that I see is that each Disney movie that has been used in this presentation has not been clearly sighted as far as I can tell.

Class Website

Here is my pretend class website:

https://sites.google.com/site/missbarnhartsenglishclasses/

Love and Logic

My classroom management teacher told us about this philosophy in management technique called "Love and Logic." I've done a little research on it, and here's the website to the company she was referring to:

http://www.loveandlogic.com/

You can follow them on twitter!

The philosophy is based on the goal of raising responsible children, and the company does seminars for both parents and educators. The concept is based on the philosophical writings of Charles S. Pierce, an American thinker and innovator.

In our class, she told us about four main skills that a teacher needs while managing a classroom:

1. Neutralize student arguing.

This is done mainly two ways:

A. Ignore the problem. Sometimes, students act out because they are seeking unhealthy attention. When they do not get it, they may stop.

B. Repeat a one-liner, like, "I know." During class, the main point is to keep the learning environment going. If a student is having personal problems, you can pull them aside later and talk with them.

2. Offer a choice.

Students are very aware of their peers, and want to save face more than anything. A confrontation with a teacher can be very embarrassing, especially if the student feels like they were not treated like an adult. Giving the student a choice is treating the student like an adult, so that they can chose to comply with the rules and procedures of the classroom without embarrassment (she didn't MAKE me stop, I CHOSE to stop!).

These choices should be two "reasonable and acceptable" choices. IE, when a student refuses to hand over a cell phone that has been used in class, the choices could be "either hand me the phone, or take the phone to the office."

3. Delayed consequences.

This is not a threat. It is a statement of fact, and a following through with that statement. When a student is disruptive, this skill can manifest as simply as telling them, "this is a problem. We'll deal with it later, but right now I'm teaching," or, "this is a problem. We'll talk later," and then taking them aside after class and discussing the problem with them.

4. Empathy.

Students are people, too. They deserve sincere empathy. They also deserve the right to be responsible for their actions, even when that responsibility entails negative consequences. When students are not held responsible for their words and actions, they are being given a great disservice.

Before telling students about the consequences to their actions, a teacher should extend their sincere, simple empathy. The student should be given choices when possible. The teacher can ask the student to state the consequences, to clarify that they understand. Show confidence in the student.

Grammar Wiki

Here is a class wiki for my Eng 329 (teaching grammar) class:

http://eng329ostenson.pbworks.com/

It is essentially a handbook of examples of different grammar structures. I bet it will be very useful for putting together lesson plans on grammar! Students will be able to learn what opening adverbs, absolute phrases, noun clauses, and others are from this site.

Blog Following (PLN Assignment)

This is the first blog I'm following for this assignment:

http://sdsuchildlit.blogspot.com/2010/09/btwsdsu-seeks-asst-prof-in-am-lit-20c.html

"Information Technology: All About Technology"

I chose this blog because it has the latest and greatest news on technology. It has a lot of cool stuff! I like cool stuff, what can I say? I believe that some of it will be useful in a classroom setting, if not for acquiring said technology physically in the classroom, providing information for classroom discussion.

This is the second:

http://sdsuchildlit.blogspot.com/2010/09/btwsdsu-seeks-asst-prof-in-am-lit-20c.html

"SDSU Children's Literature: Dept. of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego..."

I chose this blog because I think it is a good and interesting example of a classroom-type blog. The articles about literature are very interesting, and contemporary. I'm taking Eng 420 right now, too, so as a bonus, I think it'll help me think of/inform me of ideas about the subjectmatter of young adult literature.

This is the third:

http://www.fictionistaworkshop.com/

"Fictionista Workshop"

I chose this blog because it has really interesting articles about literature, and lots of interesting sides to explore! I love English literature. That is all.

This is the fourth:

http://www.azarticles.net/

"AZ Articles: A to Z Articles World"

This blog has a lot of posts about new technologies, but also reviews about literature, and secondary teaching. It is very interesting!

This is the fifth:

http://missbrownela.blogspot.com/2010/09/tuesday-sept-7th-friday-sept10th-2010.html

"Miss Brown's English Language Arts"

This blog is a young teacher's class blog. If I use a blog for my class, I could get ideas from this blog about what works/doesn't work/is cool!

Here's the screenshot of my google reader:

Twitter!

These are 3 English teachers I've decided to follow on twitter... they're all interested in technology integration, and I want to know what they have to say!

I, Adelheid!

You may have noticed that I customized this blog. Closer examination may reveal important things about the author, so here's a post about what themes/widgets/etc I chose:

The bookshelves. So postmodern, so ....me.

The caterpillar, because I'm a bookworm... digitized!

The poll about authors... because I burn with a desire to know.

Bloglist, because it's supposed to be there!

...if only there were more blogs to put there...

My profile is ...so informative... too.