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.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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!
"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.
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.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, November 8, 2010
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.
____________________________________________________________________
Through the misery and abjection of Satan's realm...
____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
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.
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.
- Select an appropriate format to evaluate information, determine results and make recommendations.
- Gather, evaluate, and organize research on a specific topic.
- Support main points using a variety of convincing and relevant information.
- Use informal and formal citations, where appropriate, to support inquiry.
______________________________________________________________
(Black screen, white words)
(Black screen, white words)
"An impossible goal: to journey to heaven."
_______________________________________________________________
The way, guarded by three terrible beasts:
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...
____________________________________________________________________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?"
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?"
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