Chapter 8: WIKIs
I was utterly fascinated by this chapter because the idea is one of the only that we are working on this semester with which I am unfamiliar. Of course, wikipedia is no stranger; I use it constantly myself and with my tutoring students at U of L. However, I never knew or even thought about the implications of a wiki in the classroom. I think it seemed like something kids couldn’t do before I read this chapter. Now, I see all the wonderfully exciting possibilities.
A few sections of the text jumped out at me, so I will just give a few examples:
1. “Giving students editorial control can imbue in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the site and minimize the risk of someone adding something offensive” (65).
Anytime we can promote a greater sense of responsibility in our students, it is a positive thing. So many of them have no sense of responsibility, no accountability, and no sense of purpose in general, this can be such a great help. In my experience, if you give the students responsibility for their own learning and the success of a large project, many of them will rise to the occasion in a big way. Also, this is a way to teach morals and ethics without getting tricky, or stepping on anyone’s toes in a religious way. I love it!
2. “On his own blog, Paul says, “To write in a wiki is to compose within a living organism”. As students approach the wiki with writing ideas in mind, they first search to see if content about that topic has already been posted. So they need to read critically first, if they are to find the areas where information is missing or disorganized” (67).
The idea that using this and other kinds of technology requires students to “read critically” is a new idea to me, and is great for gaining support from administrators/faculty. If those of us who believe in the use of these technologies can present the benefits, which are numerous, and minimize the possible negatives, we can finally bring our students and our schools into the 21st century. I had honestly never thought about the fact that students must read critically in order to use a wiki effectively before reading this, and it makes perfect sense.
3. “The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort” (74).
I am a big believer in creating a safe, hard-working, organized community within the classroom, so this idea really hit home. In order to be the best we can be as teachers, we have to not only teach students core content and POS, but we have to get them ready to live in a technologically advanced world as well if we want to set them up for success. This sense of community online is spreading like wildfire, especially through social sites like MySpace or Facebook, and tapping into that for educational purposes is a brilliant, and necessary idea to reach students.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
New Idea
I have decided to change my digital story idea; now I am going to make a movie about all the "hats" I wear in my life that make me who I am. I still want to make the digital story for my students and cooperating teacher, I just realized that it will take a very long time to do that, and I don't have all the pictures I need. I don't have a digital camera of my own, so I will need to borrow one in order to complete that endeavor.
So my new digital story will be just as cool, although not nearly as emotional. I could use this with my students, to show them who I am outside of a teacher, minus one picture that shows my friends and I at a party, just as Karen suggested with her story. It also allows me to save these pictures in a digital format for later in life...kind of like a scrapbook. I can see how easily this would be a great way for kids to do the same thing; they could even create an autobiography with this project. Hey: I think I just got a great beginning-of-the-year project for my kids!!
So my new digital story will be just as cool, although not nearly as emotional. I could use this with my students, to show them who I am outside of a teacher, minus one picture that shows my friends and I at a party, just as Karen suggested with her story. It also allows me to save these pictures in a digital format for later in life...kind of like a scrapbook. I can see how easily this would be a great way for kids to do the same thing; they could even create an autobiography with this project. Hey: I think I just got a great beginning-of-the-year project for my kids!!
Monday, March 12, 2007
My Digital Story Draft
What story do I want to tell?
I want to find a way to wrap up my student teaching experience and make a digital scrapbook of sorts as a keepsake of the semester. I will have one week after Spring Break to spend with my students during CATS testing, and on my final day, I will share this digital story with them. I want to make a scrapbook of my experiences, great lessons we have all learned together, cool pictures of students in action, etc.
Why now?
It is important to me that I record these experiences while they are wrapping up, so that I don't put it off in the future when there is way too much going on for me to think about it.
Audience?
I would like to dedicate this to both Ms. Rietze, my cooperating teacher, and my students.
I want to find a way to wrap up my student teaching experience and make a digital scrapbook of sorts as a keepsake of the semester. I will have one week after Spring Break to spend with my students during CATS testing, and on my final day, I will share this digital story with them. I want to make a scrapbook of my experiences, great lessons we have all learned together, cool pictures of students in action, etc.
Why now?
It is important to me that I record these experiences while they are wrapping up, so that I don't put it off in the future when there is way too much going on for me to think about it.
Audience?
I would like to dedicate this to both Ms. Rietze, my cooperating teacher, and my students.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Adopt and Adapt
Thank goodness somebody finally addressed my biggest complaint about teaching with technology! I am so glad that Edutopia recognizes that even though we all have at least one computer in our room, it is mostly used to do old things in old ways, like sending email to teachers everyday, trading lesson plans, and posting grades. This doesn't mean we are techonologically savvy at all, just that we are gradually becoming a paperless society (notice I said gradually!). Until everyone in administration of local schools and in the Federal Department of Education gets on board with the necessity of using technology in our planning and practice, hardly anything will be done on a large scale. I am not sure if this will happen soon, or until a new generation of teachers, administrators, legislators, and superintendants come into the mix. The "immigrants" are still too conservative and need to wisen up, if you ask me. My hope is that all of those new to the teaching profession who have been introduced to the benefits of teaching with technology will help move things along by affecting change in their classrooms, schools, and communities.
Something else positive that I picked up on in the article was the section that asks: "How do we move forward?" BY asking students what they know, pre-assessing if you will, and combining that with what we know, I can't even begin to imagine what will be done. It will be amazing. I already have plans to try and reserve the computer lab at whatever school I will be working next year once a week, to allow students to be introduced to a new tool each week for the first month or two of school, and utilize a school blog as well. I think it will not only encourage the use of the internet as an educational tool, but will also help build community in the classroom.
I did see something that worries me, only because I am not sure about its implications. One section of the article discusses the idea that students each need a personal device for computing that will become an extension of his or her brain. I am reminded again of the novel Feed by M.T. Andersen because the students in his novel literally had a feed hooked up in their brains 24/7. I am worried that students will become too dependent somewhere inside of me, but I also recognize that these tools can take students to a level we could never even have imagined 10 years ago. I think my worry comes from fear of change, but I understand and support the need for it. I know that other "immigrants" are thinking along the same lines, but unlike me, they are paralyzed by their fear. Sad.
Something else positive that I picked up on in the article was the section that asks: "How do we move forward?" BY asking students what they know, pre-assessing if you will, and combining that with what we know, I can't even begin to imagine what will be done. It will be amazing. I already have plans to try and reserve the computer lab at whatever school I will be working next year once a week, to allow students to be introduced to a new tool each week for the first month or two of school, and utilize a school blog as well. I think it will not only encourage the use of the internet as an educational tool, but will also help build community in the classroom.
I did see something that worries me, only because I am not sure about its implications. One section of the article discusses the idea that students each need a personal device for computing that will become an extension of his or her brain. I am reminded again of the novel Feed by M.T. Andersen because the students in his novel literally had a feed hooked up in their brains 24/7. I am worried that students will become too dependent somewhere inside of me, but I also recognize that these tools can take students to a level we could never even have imagined 10 years ago. I think my worry comes from fear of change, but I understand and support the need for it. I know that other "immigrants" are thinking along the same lines, but unlike me, they are paralyzed by their fear. Sad.
Synching Up
What a fabulous idea for analyzing Nathaniel Hawthorne! Student hate reading his work, generally, because it is so difficult and laden with vocabulary and 19th century dialect. I definitely agree also that kids react much differently when they can utilize their technological knowedge, and type instead of write. Not to mention that this activity would eliminate the need to collect a bunch of handwritten papers that needed to be individually graded. How wonderful!
I thought the bit about Leapster was interesting as well because it is so true that kids have such short attention spans now. It is nothing for a student to sit and listen to music while typing, or reading, and instant messaging a friend every minute or so at the same time. Keeping kids on their toes is important, and I see the need to integrate technology into our lessons. The problem is, as I have pointed out many times, I don't have access to 30 computers for my students on a daily basis, and sometimes they can't even use the computer lab once per month. This is troubling to me, and I see a great need for teachers to learn to write grants, and to push for more technology in the classroom. I know it is the only way we are going to truly guide our young people to academic success.
I thought the bit about Leapster was interesting as well because it is so true that kids have such short attention spans now. It is nothing for a student to sit and listen to music while typing, or reading, and instant messaging a friend every minute or so at the same time. Keeping kids on their toes is important, and I see the need to integrate technology into our lessons. The problem is, as I have pointed out many times, I don't have access to 30 computers for my students on a daily basis, and sometimes they can't even use the computer lab once per month. This is troubling to me, and I see a great need for teachers to learn to write grants, and to push for more technology in the classroom. I know it is the only way we are going to truly guide our young people to academic success.
Flickr Project
I have decided to do my project on two over-arching KY Core Content Standards, and show the ways in which the activity I am doing with my students meets the indicators for the standards. The standards are:
A. Interpreting Text: High School Reading
*Requires readers to extend their initial impressions to develop a more complete understanding of what is read. This involves linking information across parts of a text as well as focusing on specific information.
B. Reflecting and Responding to Text: High School Reading
*Requires readers to connect knowlesge from the text to their own background knowledge. The focus is on how the text relates to personal knowledge.
My activity is called Socratic Circles, and as you will see in my Flickr project, it is set up to encourage discussion and debate among students and to push them toward using higher level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This activity specifically meets several of the indicators for these standards in the following ways:
1. RD-11-3.0.2: Students will analyze an author's purpose in a passage.
In this activity, I assign a short passage or several short poems for the students to read for homework. They are to apply six techniques of analysis to the reading, including: question, analyze, evaluate, elements of the passage, connect (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to world), and argue. The students them present this information to their class members when it is their turn to speak in the inner circle.
2. RD-11-3.0.4: Students will accept or reject an argument, giving supporting evidence from the passage.
The students who are speaking in the inner circle often debate with one another when they discuss the arguments they have prepared for homework. They have a copy of the passage/poem in front of them so that they can support their argument with text.
3. RD-11-4.0.1: Students will evaluate the content or make connections as it applies to students' lives (text-to-self), real-world issues (text-to-world), or other texts (text-to-text).
By asking the students to make connections that go beyond the text itself and the author, students synthesize a ton of information, bringing it together to share with their peers. Students often pull from research on the author or the text, their notes/experiences in classes such as Social Studies or Science, and even connect to their own lives in very personal ways.
*Requires readers to extend their initial impressions to develop a more complete understanding of what is read. This involves linking information across parts of a text as well as focusing on specific information.
B. Reflecting and Responding to Text: High School Reading
*Requires readers to connect knowlesge from the text to their own background knowledge. The focus is on how the text relates to personal knowledge.
My activity is called Socratic Circles, and as you will see in my Flickr project, it is set up to encourage discussion and debate among students and to push them toward using higher level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This activity specifically meets several of the indicators for these standards in the following ways:
1. RD-11-3.0.2: Students will analyze an author's purpose in a passage.
In this activity, I assign a short passage or several short poems for the students to read for homework. They are to apply six techniques of analysis to the reading, including: question, analyze, evaluate, elements of the passage, connect (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to world), and argue. The students them present this information to their class members when it is their turn to speak in the inner circle.
2. RD-11-3.0.4: Students will accept or reject an argument, giving supporting evidence from the passage.
The students who are speaking in the inner circle often debate with one another when they discuss the arguments they have prepared for homework. They have a copy of the passage/poem in front of them so that they can support their argument with text.
3. RD-11-4.0.1: Students will evaluate the content or make connections as it applies to students' lives (text-to-self), real-world issues (text-to-world), or other texts (text-to-text).
By asking the students to make connections that go beyond the text itself and the author, students synthesize a ton of information, bringing it together to share with their peers. Students often pull from research on the author or the text, their notes/experiences in classes such as Social Studies or Science, and even connect to their own lives in very personal ways.
For more information on this activity, please visit http://www.stenhouse.com and type in "Socratic Circles".
The book, by Matt Copeland, is available on this website, and you can read a chapter or two online for free.
Here is a link to my images, which are a combination of found images and actual photos of the classroom setup for Socratic Circles:
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Chapters 3, 5, 7
Chapter 3
This chapter had a nice dose of reality in it, but it doesn’t offer many options to those of us who have technologically illiterate students, or those who don’t have internet access at home, or resources at school that allow for blogging as a class. I feel that using a blog can certainly be a great asset to get students reading, communicating, and also for getting them prepared for the world at large, which is using the blog more and more in everyday application. However, I also see that many students will shut down immediately if I assign a blog for homework, or use it as a method of communicating with my classes. I have encountered this before with something as simple as typing a writing piece; the students who don’t have computers at home often take a zero on the assignment and don’t do it at all, just because they don’t have a place to type it outside of school. This is unfortunate but it is the truth. I have only limited access in my classroom, and am working to make that better, but I often have trouble getting administrators to agree with me, because they don’t use the technology either. Ugh.
Chapter 5
Wow. The RSS sounds so exciting! I know to some it must sound like just another thing to read everyday, but to me it sounds as if this technology will help keep me abreast of new ideas, new legislation that relates to education, and also tons of background material that I can use in my classes at U of L and in the classroom with my students. I enjoyed learning about feeds and how blogs are actually linked to their feeds. Understanding this kind of language will help me explain it to my students, and keep up with those who already know about this kind of stuff.
As far as implications for teaching, I see several advantages for having this technology. My favorite is that it will cut down on the huge stacks of paper I take home everyday by allowing student work to be sent to my aggregator through their blog. In an ideal world, this would probably happen everyday because my students would each have a computer in the classroom and at home. What will actually happen is I will try to reserve the lab once a week, and allow students to use this tool at that time. The other use is obviously the research feed. Students are always mystified as to how they can gather up-to-date information on a topic, and this takes the guess work out of it completely! Having someone else doing 24/7 research for them will definitely appeal to students; the less “work” they have to do the better!
Chapter 7
Since reading this chapter, I have had a great epiphany about a drama project I am assigning as the culmination for my unit on The Great Gatsby this six weeks. My students are going to create a dramatic representation of the novel, including something from each chapter, in small groups. I had already thought of offering the option to create a video and show this in class, rather than acting it out in person, but knowing about flickr has prompted me to offer the option of using digital photography to create a presentation. I am already familiar with Windows Movie Maker, and feel confident that I can create a reference sheet to help students with an interest in this type of project. I was not familiar with the ways in which I could share this material with other classrooms, even to kids in other parts of the world, and facilitate discussions based on the productions. I think this will help the kids make bigger connections with students from across the globe, just like them, on a variety of topics, including literature. My only regret is that I don’t have wireless access in my classroom…I have to run a very long cord across the room from the wall outlet in order to access the internet, and I have to reserve a projector, of which there are only two in the whole building. I can’t wait to try this, but I am afraid it will have to wait until next year, when I hopefully have my own classroom full of kids. Maybe I should just invest in a projector of my own!
This chapter had a nice dose of reality in it, but it doesn’t offer many options to those of us who have technologically illiterate students, or those who don’t have internet access at home, or resources at school that allow for blogging as a class. I feel that using a blog can certainly be a great asset to get students reading, communicating, and also for getting them prepared for the world at large, which is using the blog more and more in everyday application. However, I also see that many students will shut down immediately if I assign a blog for homework, or use it as a method of communicating with my classes. I have encountered this before with something as simple as typing a writing piece; the students who don’t have computers at home often take a zero on the assignment and don’t do it at all, just because they don’t have a place to type it outside of school. This is unfortunate but it is the truth. I have only limited access in my classroom, and am working to make that better, but I often have trouble getting administrators to agree with me, because they don’t use the technology either. Ugh.
Chapter 5
Wow. The RSS sounds so exciting! I know to some it must sound like just another thing to read everyday, but to me it sounds as if this technology will help keep me abreast of new ideas, new legislation that relates to education, and also tons of background material that I can use in my classes at U of L and in the classroom with my students. I enjoyed learning about feeds and how blogs are actually linked to their feeds. Understanding this kind of language will help me explain it to my students, and keep up with those who already know about this kind of stuff.
As far as implications for teaching, I see several advantages for having this technology. My favorite is that it will cut down on the huge stacks of paper I take home everyday by allowing student work to be sent to my aggregator through their blog. In an ideal world, this would probably happen everyday because my students would each have a computer in the classroom and at home. What will actually happen is I will try to reserve the lab once a week, and allow students to use this tool at that time. The other use is obviously the research feed. Students are always mystified as to how they can gather up-to-date information on a topic, and this takes the guess work out of it completely! Having someone else doing 24/7 research for them will definitely appeal to students; the less “work” they have to do the better!
Chapter 7
Since reading this chapter, I have had a great epiphany about a drama project I am assigning as the culmination for my unit on The Great Gatsby this six weeks. My students are going to create a dramatic representation of the novel, including something from each chapter, in small groups. I had already thought of offering the option to create a video and show this in class, rather than acting it out in person, but knowing about flickr has prompted me to offer the option of using digital photography to create a presentation. I am already familiar with Windows Movie Maker, and feel confident that I can create a reference sheet to help students with an interest in this type of project. I was not familiar with the ways in which I could share this material with other classrooms, even to kids in other parts of the world, and facilitate discussions based on the productions. I think this will help the kids make bigger connections with students from across the globe, just like them, on a variety of topics, including literature. My only regret is that I don’t have wireless access in my classroom…I have to run a very long cord across the room from the wall outlet in order to access the internet, and I have to reserve a projector, of which there are only two in the whole building. I can’t wait to try this, but I am afraid it will have to wait until next year, when I hopefully have my own classroom full of kids. Maybe I should just invest in a projector of my own!
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