12.8.10: Scribblar
So fun! We got a bit carried away, probably because it's finals week.
A tool for collaborative art...kind of like a paint program but can also be used to make flow charts, and allows multiple people to be involved with the creativity at the same time. Users can be invited in as guests of an administrator.
Mashable
A personal favorite of mine, this website is on top of their current events! Mashable is dedicated to keeping you up to date on trends in technology, social networking, Apple activity, Google Activity, mobile technology, social good, as well as many other aspects of the very moder world. I taught this mini-lesson mainly for the teacher side of things... I think it is important to stay up to date on what is "trending" and what is changing in the world of technology. As I stated, I sometimes give my mom a hard time for not understanding the Internet and its tools- but I will most likely be in her position someday...however, since I will be working with students who are going to be concerned with minute by minute updates on their cellphones, iPods, etc, I think it is important that I stay informed!
ThinkQuest
I learned about this website by reading The Marshall Memo ("A weekly round-up of important ideas and research in K-12 Education")...It mentioned "online literature circles" being employed in a middle school classroom, using ThinkQuest! The feedback on this unit was fantastic! The students involved said they really enjoyed being allowed an online outlet, and the teachers said it was a rewarding experience. They covered the parts of their unit that worked best, and the pitfalls to look out for when letting students use the Internet. ThinkQuest was their resource, but the website is not so easily accessible. It is for educational use only, and requires an administrator to apply to be able to utilize it. However, to explore the site without applying (and without utilization privileges), the site offers a demo tour, located under the "Projects" tab, and then in the right-hand menu-- click "Tour ThinkQuest".
Mashable
A personal favorite of mine, this website is on top of their current events! Mashable is dedicated to keeping you up to date on trends in technology, social networking, Apple activity, Google Activity, mobile technology, social good, as well as many other aspects of the very moder world. I taught this mini-lesson mainly for the teacher side of things... I think it is important to stay up to date on what is "trending" and what is changing in the world of technology. As I stated, I sometimes give my mom a hard time for not understanding the Internet and its tools- but I will most likely be in her position someday...however, since I will be working with students who are going to be concerned with minute by minute updates on their cellphones, iPods, etc, I think it is important that I stay informed!
ThinkQuest
I learned about this website by reading The Marshall Memo ("A weekly round-up of important ideas and research in K-12 Education")...It mentioned "online literature circles" being employed in a middle school classroom, using ThinkQuest! The feedback on this unit was fantastic! The students involved said they really enjoyed being allowed an online outlet, and the teachers said it was a rewarding experience. They covered the parts of their unit that worked best, and the pitfalls to look out for when letting students use the Internet. ThinkQuest was their resource, but the website is not so easily accessible. It is for educational use only, and requires an administrator to apply to be able to utilize it. However, to explore the site without applying (and without utilization privileges), the site offers a demo tour, located under the "Projects" tab, and then in the right-hand menu-- click "Tour ThinkQuest".
12.6.10: Google Books
>Search engine for finding books.
>Allows you to read some books, but not all because of publishing issues.
>Allows you to search by themes such as "dance," "travel," etc.
>Provides a word cloud, to give you an idea of what is included in the book.
>Biographical information is provided.
>You can buy the book online, or use Google Books to help you find where it is located near you, in stores or in libraries in your area.
>You can read an excerpt to get an idea of what the book is about.
>Google Books gives you a "library"-an area in which to virtually keep all your books together, categorized by what you have read, what you are reading, what you'd like to read, and favorites. Books are organized on a webpage of shelves!
>Offers a "find" tool, so you can easily find where i nthe book certain scenes are located by searching key words.
Promethean Planet
>Forum for teacher sharing... of lesson plans, games, charts-things that work in the classroom.
>A source for new ideas from other teachers, and a place where you can share your successful ideas with fellow teachers.
>Aids in teaching steps such as lesson planning (ex: calendar).
>Has downloads for smartboards to be used in classrooms.
>Free account!
Readers' Theatre
>Easy to conduct in the classroom: no sets, costumes, or line memorization.
>Facilitates teamwork, cooperation, and creativity.
>Allows for exploration of common themes within literature.
>Very simple for the teacher!
>Helps students become comfortable with public speaking.
>Author Online!
Promethean Planet
>Forum for teacher sharing... of lesson plans, games, charts-things that work in the classroom.
>A source for new ideas from other teachers, and a place where you can share your successful ideas with fellow teachers.
>Aids in teaching steps such as lesson planning (ex: calendar).
>Has downloads for smartboards to be used in classrooms.
>Free account!
Readers' Theatre
>Easy to conduct in the classroom: no sets, costumes, or line memorization.
>Facilitates teamwork, cooperation, and creativity.
>Allows for exploration of common themes within literature.
>Very simple for the teacher!
>Helps students become comfortable with public speaking.
>Author Online!
12.1.10: Skype
-conference call type technology
-easily download-able from the Internet
-can be used for group projects when it is difficult to meet with group members
-Skype to Skype calls are free, to landlines and mobile are 2.3 cents per minute, unless you buy a package.
-easy way to keep in touch with people who aren't close to you, and if you go Skype to Skpe, you don't have to worry about minutes or texts.
-also offers a instant messaging option
Found Poems
1: Start with a passage of prose.
2: Select words directly from the text.
3: Arrange!
*You cannot add your own words!
Uses: intro to writing poetry, component in Reader's Theatre, intro to book talk, exercise to help with close reading; intro to discussion on the power of words, transition from studying novels to studying poetry.
Small, confined.
Tormenting, passe business.
constant, concealed behavior.
Ugly answer.
Publishing Students' Work
-legitamizes students' work
-gives a goal/encouragement
-facilitates a positive attitude towards writing
-increases communication with other students about writing
-creates community for discussion of reading and writing
Where to publish: Publishing Students, KidScribe, Teacher Vision*, KidsCom, Writers' News, ZuZu, KidsWwwrite, Write Source, Bullying.org, TeenLit, & Teacher Tap.
*Offers print publishing.
11.17.10: The Poetry Archive
I will most likely use this in my classroom! As you know, poetry isn't my forte, but this website provides so much poetry at my fingertips- and includes recordings of the authors reading their poetry- so I don't have to worry about it, ha ha.
Poetry 180
I will probably use this, too! I like the idea of consistency within the classroom, and I think this would be a good way to get students into the English mindset every day at the beginning of class. The title of the site is derived from the 180 days of school: a poem a day!
Flickr
A photo sharing site... I know a lot of people that use it. I'm not currently one of them but I can imagine using it in my classroom someday!
SmugMug
Similar to Flickr in that it's photo sharing, but it also allows you to essentially design your own interface and profile.
11.1.10: Doodle
Residence Life uses this frequently! It was used to schedule the three phases of RA interviews, and during training week to schedule our weekly staff meetings. It's very easy to use and essentially does the work for you when trying to figure out when everyone is free.
10.27.10: Survey Monkey
10.20.10: Conference Proposal
Apparently, bullets have stopped working for good on this blog. I understand what CFP and conference proposals are, but it is still unclear to me how and when I will be utilizing this information. Apparently I only have 250 words to work with, including a bibliography (awesome). This proposal must include: a working thesis and an explanation of relevance in the first third. In the next third, I must explain why this contribution is "new and original." The last third must highlight the positive products of your proposal.
Lesson Planning (notes)
1. What did you hope your peers would learn from your presentation?
2. How did you go about teaching/telling/showing them that you wanted them to learn?
3. How do you know if they learned it?
What is a lesson plan? An outline of what you are going to teach/teach about. "Teacher's guide, substitute's lifeline, administrator's check, student's protection," etc.
A lesson plan should:
-Explain the teacher's goals for the lesson (objectives).
-List the materials needed (ready resources).
-Present the sequence of intended events (procedures>>student-teacher actions).
-Include a way to know if what you planned is what happened (assessment).
-Show how the lesson meets relevant Standards (standards met...NYS has four).
It should also: be clear and easy to read! Be carefully edited! Be organized and presented on something larger than a Post-It note! Be easy to find in your classroom or planning area! Be meaningful to someone other than yourself, such as students, parents, substitutes, and administrators!
10.18.10: Animoto
"The end of slideshows"... Seems like it's actually a tool for creating slideshows, so I assume the creators of Animoto mean this to say that Animoto is the best tool for creating slide shows. It doesn't really seem like something I'll be using, but I will keep it in mind. It's kind of like a PowerPoint, but without words, and more intense effects. You can add music, but there are not options for skipping forward ahead by picture/slide.
Digital Storytelling
I don't really see the...uniqueness (for lack of a better word) of this tool. It seems like I could do the same with PowerPoint, and isn't very interesting overall. However, it is really simply to use, so I think instead of using it myself, I would let my students use it to enhance projects and presentations.
10.13.10: VoiceThread
This seems like a really useful tool. I'm not sure exactly how to go about using the website, but based on the presentation, I think it could definitely be useful in a classroom setting. The simplicity of it is a huge plus. It seems fairly easy to leave text comments, voice comments, and video comments. There are plenty of options, and all were portrayed as easy to learn and do. I'm gonna check it out!
10.11.10: Tagxedo
This is AWESOME! It's like Wordle, but a lot better. It uses the words from a piece of text that you submit, and an image is created from that text. You can adjust the colors, shape, font, etc. I see a lot of possiblities with this tool, in and out of the classroom!
Zotero: I will be relying on this for all my citations. I foresee this being one of the most frequently used tools of my college career.
Scribefire: Useful for bloggers, if you can get past all the CAPTCHA phrases (which I could not).
10.6.10: Meebo
I've used this site before, so it only now became clear to me that while we may be able to think of many uses for it in the classroom, it may not be accessible within the districts we are working in. This is true of several of the sites we've discussed so far. For the home, it's a great tool, or if you happen to work in a district where the web restrictions are lax, or like in my home district, you can apply for approval to unblock a website (however, in my district, Meebo was denied). It's still a nice portal to collect all your messaging systems together in, without having to download anything.
10.4.10: Twitter
I was surprised at how much I liked the idea of Twitter, once the concept had been explained to me. It seemed stupid before, just like a series of unnecessary updates from your friends. However, I really liked the idea of following authors. I went to my room after class and immediately signed up. I don't plan on posting much, but I am following people like Stephen Colbert, Danny DeVito, and Chuck Palahniuk. You can follow me if you want!
9.29.10: Wordle
I love this website!
What it does is pull out the most used words in a block of text (that you submit, either by copying and pasting or by submitting a URL) and emphasizes them in a word cloud by making commonly used words larger than less commonly used words. You can adjust the image generated for you by changing the font used, color scheme, orientation of the words, etc. I actually used it for a project last week in World Poetry last week! It promoted a lot of discussion regarding common themes between poems and what the poets were trying to emphasize with their diction.
9.27.10: SmileBox
- A PowerPoint-type tool online
- Teachers can sign up for "TeacherBox" which includes added features such as music
- Costs $14.99 a month
- Comes with a virus
9.13.2010: NiceNet
- Open class forum
- Class key: 9G36Q7F89
- Ad-free website!
9.1.2010: Writing Territories
Writing Territories...exploring areas in which you have written, haven't written, would like to write, would not like to write, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment