Spreadsheet NETS -T (1)

This is a spreadsheet I created through Excel. I learned to manipulate data on the spreadsheet and create graphs. It records media usage over a two week period. It demonstrates my ability to solve authentic and real-world issues using digital tools and resources.

Spreadsheet

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu excel diabetes

Ed Tech Profile: NETS-T (3)

These are the results of my most recent Ed Tech Profile. See how much I've improved.
This demonstrates my effective use of current and emerging digital tools. This survey covers all aspects of technology use in the classroom and educational settings.

Edtech Profile Comparison

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu ed422

Fair Use Harbor Summary: NETS-T (4) artifact

This is a collaborative summary document created by Christine Fisher and Lisa Gochnauer on Google Docs and based on information from the Fair Use Harbor Web site: It demonstrates my ability to model and teach the legal and ethical uses of digial information and technology.

Copyright Fair Use Practices
(summary by Christine Fisher)
Background
Copyright law gives a creator the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform, display, sell, lend or rent their creations.

A variety of forms of expression are protected: poetry and prose, computer programs, artwork, music, animations movies and videos, Java Applets, web pages, architectural drawings photographs and more.

Some things are not protected by copyright, such as: ideas, titles, names, short phrases, works in the public domain, facts, logos and slogans (protected by trademark), blank forms that don’t provide information, and URLs.

Educators at non-profit educational institutions are allowed to use small portions of copyrighted works in their teaching. By using the smallest amount necessary they can avoid lawsuits.

Although still controversial, the law provides for “fair use” by educators without the author or creator’s permission and free of charge.

The 1976 Copyright Act established four “fair use” criteria:

1) Is it commercial or is it for non-profit educational purposes?
(School teachers shouldn’t have to worry.)

2) Is the work used for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research? (Stay close to these uses and you should be fine.)

3) How much of the entire copyrighted work was used?
(A small poem may be able to be used entirely, but use no more than necessary of larger works.)

4) Did the use keep someone from buying the material?
(Courts pay attention to this closely.) More leniency is shown for non-profit organizations.


Applications for Teachers
Classroom teachers will have to use copyrighted material sparingly, and get permission where possible. They need to acknowledge the source of the material, and keep the excerpts short, only using what is really needed. Keep in mind that copyright issues apply to more than just print materials.

Single Copying Use

The House of Representatives set guidelines for reasonable single copy use:

1)Teachers may make a single photocopy of a chapter of a book, a short story, a short essay, or a short poem, or an article from a magazine, journal or newspaper.

2)They may also copy pictures, charts, diagrams, cartoons or graphs from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

There is some controversy over course packs (collections of materials copied as resources for students). Kinko’s Graphics was successfully sued for producing them.

Some colleges are providing digital reserves of materials available through websites, or hyperlinks, which can be controversial.

A good way to avoid these issues is to put materials on reserve at a library. Students can make single copies of the materials for their use in accordance with copyright law.

Teachers have fairly wide copying privileges for research, the placement of materials in a library reserve room, and other education purposes, but they must adhere to the principles of fair use and be operating in non-profit educational setting.

Application for Teachers
Teachers have to be very careful in assembling materials for students. The controversy over course packs does not appear to be resolved. The jury appears to still be out on digital reserves as well. As teachers incorporate social bookmarking more, they will have to investigate the copyright implications. When giving assignments to students, they will need make them aware of “fair use” issues.

Multiple Copies Use
In general, copies should be made at the spur of the moment when it’s too difficult to get permission from the owner, and in limited numbers according to the following guidelines:

1. An article (2,500 words)
2. Prose (1,000 words, or 10% of the work, whichever is less)
3. Poem (250 words)
4. Only one chart, diagram, cartoon, or picture from a newspaper, periodical, or book.

Make only one copy per student and charge for only the cost of copying, The copying should be done for only one course and should not be reproduced year after year. Only copy one work for each author, unless it’s an anthology and then you may copy three authors. Workbooks, tests, and other “consumable” works are not allowed.

Limit yourself to nine situations of multiple copying each term. Newspapers and periodicals are the exception; stay within the word limits above and you may copy as many times as desired. However, creating anthologies or collected works violates the “derivative works” rights of the copyright holder.

Where possible get permission or seek a publisher’s reprint.

Applications for Teachers
It’s nice to have some specific guidelines on how much can be safely copied. Many teachers use a variety of supplemental sources in their teaching and need to be aware of the limits on that. It’s nice to know that newspapers and periodicals are more available. Teachers should take advantage of that where possible.

Multimedia (summarized by Lisa Gochnauer)

Also know as "Hypermedia", involves the integration of text, graphics, audio and/or video into a computer-based environment.

In 1996, "Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia" were created:

1)Students may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations and perform and display them for academic assignments.

2)Faculty may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations to produce curriculum materials.

3)Faculty may provide for multimedia products using copyrighted works to be accessible to students at a distance (distance learning), provided that only those students may access the material.

4)Faculty may demonstrate their multimedia creations at professional symposia and retain same in their own portfolios.

Guidelines provide limits on the amount of copywrited media that may be used:

Video clips (10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less)
Text (10% or 1000 words, whichever less)
Poems
· Up to 250 words.
· Three poem limit per poet
· Five poem limit by different poets from an anthology.
Music (10% or 30 seconds, whichever is less)
Photos and Images
· 5 works from one author.
· 10% or 15 works, whichever is less, from a collection.
Database information (10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less)

Applications for Teachers
In an age where the use of multimedia in the classroom is becoming a necessary educational tool, it's important to know what the allowable limits of copyrighted material may be used, especially in projects such as portfolios that will be see by others outside the immediate classroom. It's essential that educators teach their students to be good citizens in a digital world and set a good example.

Audio/Visual

· Comprised of images or sound, or a combination of both
· Not to be confused with "Multimedia" which incorporates text, graphics, sound and/or video clips in a computerized environment.
· A/V can be incorporated into a Multimedia work
· Videos
· VHS tapes
· laserdiscs
· DVD (digital versatile discs) movies, an emerging technology now hitting the consumer market.
· 35 mm slides.
· Filmstrip.
· With or without audio presentation.
· 16 mm movies

A/V Usage
· Performance and Display
· 1976 Copyright Act allows teachers to show AV works to students in a face-to-face teaching situation only.
· TEACH Act of of 2002 has allowed the digital transmission of A/V works in certain situations
· Guidelines
· Performance of the A/V work must meet the instructional objective
· AV work must be a "lawfully made" copy

Fair Use
· Involves "video duplication"
· Use only the smallest amount necessary
· Avoid using the "creative essence"
· It is illegal to copy an entire work or convert it to another format

Applications for Teachers
Films and videos are an essential part of today's classroom, and are a useful tools for supplementing teaching content, especially as the media stimulate both auditory and visual learners. It's important to know what is legally acceptable when showing A/V works to students, since some companies, especially Disney can be rather lawsuit happy. It's also important to know the legality of copying A/V works, especially as schools have limited budgets. I didn't know that it was illegal to copy old filmstrips and other aging media even in order to preserve them.

Distance Education

Prior to the 2002 TEACH act, educators were restricted from showing audio-visual content over the internet or cable TV, even though teachers could show these videos in a face-to-face learning environment.

2002 TEACH act made it possible to show A/V works without permisson to students at a distance under certain conditions:

· Institution showing A/V works must be a non-profit
· A/V works may only be show to enrolled students
· Only "reasonable and limited" portions are used.
· A digital version must be used if one is available
· If no digital copy is available, certain allocations may be taken:
· Analog version may be digitized for streaming purposes for a brief time
· Digital copy may be stored for future use so long as no one else has access to it
· Only a "reasonable and limited" portion may be used
· Amount should be comparable to what is shown in live classroom
· Must be directly related to teaching content
· May be no other copies that what is used for transmission
· Materials must be limited for a brief time while instruction is taking place
· A/V work cannot be accessed during entire course
· Care must be taken to make sure students cannot access materials after course is finished

Applications for Teachers

This is great news for distance learning.

Web 2.0 Tool Evaluation: Phrasr NETS-T (3) Artifact

Phrasr is a Web 2.0 tool that allows you to illustrate a phrase with pictures from a photo gallery.
I think it's useful for teaching common phrases or idioms to English language learners.
I created a wiki page on Wetpaint evaluating the web 2.0 tool Phrasr that I found on the site Cool Tools for Schools. It demonstrates my ability to model the effective use of emerging digital tools and collaborate with peers to support student success.

http://csusmwebtools.wetpaint.com/page/Phrasr

To view my sample, Don't Count Your Chickens, click on the link below:

http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=16975

Powerpoint:NETS For Students 9-12 (1)

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

This is a Powerpoint presentation that I created to explain the Nets for students performance standards with possible activities and lessons that are aligned with the standards. I used a variety of digital-age media and formats to communicate these ideas including slide transitions, animations, clip art, color, layout styles, and an image based hyperlink.

iMovie Welcome to CSUSM: NETS-T (3) Artifact

In this project I created my own one minute public service spot for Cal State San Marcos using iMovie software. I edited video and audio clips, applied screen effects, inserted a still photo, added a voice over, and created titles with transitions. It was fun.

Journal 10: Enhanced Podcasts NETS-T (5) Artifact

Kolb, Liz (2008, September/October). Enhanced podcasts: A new twist on an old tool. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36 No. 2, Retrieved April 8, 2009, from
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/L_L.htm


Liz Kolb suggests some fun projects students can do while spicing up their podcasts with text and images with a simple tools like PowerPoint. She includes a helpful step-by-step guide for creating the enhanced podcasts with PowerPoint. The following are some of her suggestions for enhanced podcasts in various subjects areas:

Social Studies
Students could create a TV show with interviews of historical figures. The typical radio podcast is transformed into a TV show with the inclusion of images, charts/graphs, text, and data, thus an “enhanced” podcast.

Literacy Projects
Instead of merely recording and performing their Poetry slams, appropriate graphic art and images are included to enhance the meaning and visual experience of the poem. Through PowerPoint, students can also create digital storybooks with narration, slides, music and other sound effects.

Science projects
In a Biology class students might create a slide show about life cycles and then provide narration. In Chemistry it could be a chemical reaction that is graphically portrayed with voice over explanations.

Math
An enhanced math podcast could be a visual description of an equation with narration or the creation of graphs and charts with recorded analysis along the way.

Foreign Language Projects
A digital travel postcard podcast could have narration of interesting places along with images and music or other audio. Vocabulary flash cards could also be created with sound and images.

Enhanced Photo Albums
An enhanced pod cast here would mean a narrated video photo album of pictures from perhaps a classroom activity, field trip, yearbook or other activity.

How could enhanced podcasts help create parental support for the students education?

I thought Kolb’s idea of an “end of week review” of what the student had learned that could be sent to parents was very interesting. It could include pictures of the learning experiences from the week and be narrated by various students. Also if the pod cast were uploaded to the class website then parents could see what students were learning and help them with review and practice.

What issues should teachers be aware of when creating enhanced
podcasts?

Kolb had a good suggestion of posting podcasts on protected websites or intranet sites in order to avoid copyright issues and to protect the student’s privacy, identity, and work that has their names on it. This is a good opportunity to discuss copyright issues with the students and help them understand how to comply.

Journal 7: Mining for Gold NETS-T (5) Artifact

Bigenho, Chris (2009, March/April). Mining for gold. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36 No. 6, Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/

The beauty of RSS (real simple syndication)is that you are designing your own morning newspaper. It’s a collection of subscriptions for content that interests you and aggregated for you by the RSS. On a personal level it’s a great way to have the blogs, articles, wikis, pod casts, social bookmarking sites, or radio programs sent directly to you each day on a single page.

As a teacher, it’s a great way to collect information that can be assigned reading or resources for students. Students can also be involved in adding their own sources from their own RSS sites and it becomes a collaborative exchange of information.

RSS is also an important tool for keeping up on the ever changing world of technology and how it can be used in education. It’s also a good way for teachers to keep track of their student’s blogs. Rather than having to check constantly for new posts, the RSS feed aggregator automatically brings blog updates to the teacher. Bloglines, for example, has a notifier that will pop up an icon when a student makes a new post.

A social bookmarking site like Delicious can make bookmarked resources available to the entire class through a class tag that becomes a subscription that can be fed by an RSS aggregator to the class website, thus making all the collected information available to the entire class in one-stop shopping. Students can contribute by saving resources to the class tag.

Content can also be brought directly into HTML pages by creating a JavaScript for an existing or custom feed. For example, a teacher could use current news article feeds to provide course content. Topics could be based on different parts of the world.

I really like Bigenho’s idea of The Daily Me, a customized personal newspaper using RSS feeds. It’s a convenient way to simplify the information gathering/sharing process. It’s also a great way to channel current information to students and to get them involved in collaborative efforts to share and gather content. His suggestions and step-by-step directions for creating custom feeds is really useful. Bigenho does a good job of explaining the technology in layman’s terms.

How does an RSS feed function?

Each feed has a channel tag that identifies the individual item so it can be read by the aggregator.

What is the role of the aggregator?

The aggregator reads the tag and tracks each subscribed page, then notifies you when it is added to your site.

Journal 9: The Kids Are All Right

Waters, John K. (2009, March). The kids are all right. T.H.E. Journal, Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24104_1

John Waters reports that USC researchers in a study of over 800 young people and their parents and found that students these days are developing their social skills online through MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other social networking communities. They expect the data will show that 80-90% of young people are socializing using new media tools. The researchers identify three levels of participation:

1. Hanging out (friendship driven, a place to hang out)
2. Messing around (kids explore interests together, self-directed)
3. Geeking out (intense level of interest, develop expertise)

The consensus seems to be that the time is well spent. It’s not unproductive playtime. Teachers need to find ways to channel and exploit this energy within the classroom. They warn that teachers who fail to embrace these technologies are viewed as irrelevant by students.

I agree that this is a great way to motivate students to learn and build learning communities. We want students to take ownership in their learning and this seems like a place where they can start. I remember when I was in grade school and my peers were all reading The Chronicles of Narnia. We were all talking about it and everyone had to read them out of order because you had to grab which ever one was available in the library. Today, it seems that students can have that same shared enthusiasm--only with teens anywhere.

How can all this networking help keep young people with special interests from feeling isolated?

Students with niche interests can shine and be given recognition. The 10% that are “geeking out” are finding comfort in local communities that share their interests. The article highlights a girl who was an award winning “fan fiction” writer (someone who writes about existing fictional characters from T.V. or movies), but who never mentioned it to her teacher or put it on her college application because she felt it would not be valued. "Teachers have a responsibility to learn how social media is reconfiguring aspects of everyday life and to help youth navigate these shifts," says author and researcher, Danah Boyd.

Can we really trust them to spend so much time by themselves online?

I thought is was interesting that the research showed that teens can be trusted online more than we think. They tend to bring the same values online that they have offline. Teachers should be careful not to suffocate students with heavy handed rules and restrictions about their online use. I liked Boyd’s suggestion that teachers should let the students help them navigate the technology as a way of sharing power and building trust.

Journal 6: Grow Your Personal Learning Network

Warlick, David (2009, March/April). Grow Your Personal Learning Network. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved March 30, 2009, from
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3620082009/MarchAprilNo6/36612w.pdf


According to Davide Warlick, personal learning networks (PLN) have always been around. It’s just that before we thought of them as the people we knew and trusted for information, along with textbooks, magazines, and periodicals. We’ve been digitally connected for a while.

What’s different about today is that we now have digital tools that help us shape how we get that information so that it better serves our individual needs and we are not overwhelmed by information we get. In this new model, we are not just talking about a “destination for information.” The learning is interactive and constantly responding to new input. It’s a more organic learning environment that connects, engages, and empowers people. For example, Warlick posts something on Twitter about PLNs and shortly after is inundated with over 30 responses pointing him in the direction of different tools and sites or lesson ideas.

Warlick identifies the different ways we are connected through our PLNs. First, we have synchronous connections (in real time) that we personally maintain with new tools, such as: chat, text messaging, teleconferencing, twitter, and virtual worlds. Second, there are personal and social semisynchronous connections (collaborations not necessarily in real time) that are “nearly now” or “back and forth” communication. Examples of that are texting, Twitter, Facebook profiles, and questions that are not directed only to one person, but that can also be sent out to a community. Third are asynchronous connections such as the RSS aggregator that feeds and organizes the information directly to you from such sources as, blogs, videos, social bookmarking tools, pod casts, wikis, reports, news and blog searches, or journal articles.

In order to truly act as 21st Century facilitators in connecting our students to the world they are learning about, teachers need to be using these tools and creating learning networks themselves. If we are to prepare students for an uncertain and ever changing future, they need to know how to teach themselves and how to manage a variety of resources to stay up to speed.

What are some tips to organizing a PLN so that it’s simple and effective?

Limit the number of blogs you subscribe to--start small. Warlick suggests organizing subscriptions by topic or job function and creating folders that are organized based on how often you prefer to access them (everyday, once a week, once a month). It’s a good idea to switch it off or ignore sometimes.

What are things to keep in mind when creating a PLN?

There is a responsibility inherent in the creation of our learning networks, since we are connected to other networks as well. A PLN can be limited in its perspective and scope because of the individual limitations of who is involved and because we tend to gravitate towards people who are likeminded. This could limit the diversity of thought or resources available. We need to be consciously aware of creating learning networks that challenge our assumptions and our frames of reference.

Journal 8: Wikis NETS-T (5) Artifact

A wiki is a collaborative website. It can be a single webpage or a collection of web pages where users who have access to it can post and edit content. It’s a place for creating and browsing through information, a kind of database that’s easy to create and update. The individual wiki pages are connected to each other through hyperlinks. The collection of the pages is the wiki itself. The most familiar wiki is, of course, wikipedia.

Wikis can be designed for private access by a select group of users, for example a business or classroom. In the classroom it is a natural tool for project work and cooperative learning. A group or the entire class can collaborate on a wiki. For example, a class could develop a wiki site based on a work of literature, as one class did on the book, The Kite Runner. The site includes information about the author, the setting (Afghanistan), themes, and significant quotes.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind when using wikis in the classroom that I gleaned from the Classroom 2.0 wiki tools thread, “Examples of Collaborative Project Wikis,” posted by Tanya Travis on February 2, 2009:

“We did the wikis mentioned above with up to 20 kids writing, typing, linking and adding pictures at the same time. We, my co-teacher and I, co-ordinated the saving. NO one saved until we told them to. Even though it's not the best option some of the typing can be done in Word while others are working on the wiki …”--Nancy Bosch

“I learned the hard way that if more than one student tries to edit a page at the same time only the first person who clicks on to the page will actually save. I also get around saving problems by having students work on different pages in the wiki” --Tanya Travis

“The easiest way to avoid the editing issues with multiple students is to create individual pages for each student. One of our teachers had her students doing a project on artifacts so we created an "artifacts" page and then each student created a link on that page to their own individual page where they will upload their information. This allows all of the students to go to the lab together and work on their project….”
--Mary Bless

If you need help starting a wiki, there were a couple of websites discussed on Classroom 2.0 that looked helpful. Wetpaint is a free resource that provides features from wikis, blogs forums, and social networks to help you create a collaborative social website. Wikispaces offers up to 2 GB of free wiki hosting in its basic package along with standard and WYSIWYG editing features.

For more ideas on how wikis can be used in the classroom, see other resources bookmarked on my “wikis” delicious tag (Wiki in a K-12 Classroom and Wikis in the Classroom).

Inspiration NETS-T (1) Standards for Teachers 1-5 Artifact

This is a graphic organizer that I created using Inspiration 8 to show the Nets for teachers standards and how I've met them through various artifacts. It includes a hyperlink to the NETS-T standards at the ISTE website on my center graphic. It models creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. It could be used as a collaborative tool as well to clarify students' conceptual understanding, thinking, planning, and creative processes.

Journal #5 Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment

Bull, Glen (2006, April). Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment.
Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved March11, 2009, from
http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=April_No_7_&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=2642


In a Web 2.0 environment the information comes to you as portions of websites are hosted on other sites. This is known as web syndication or RSS which means “Really Simple Syndication.” Look for those orange icons on websites. This new development is encouraging more collaboration in the classroom and affecting the business, social, and entertainment worlds. Sites with RSS feeds function as live bookmarks that are automatically updated as new material appears.” Web-based readers are especially useful, a person can follow a web feed from any internet connection.

Soon almost every application will probably have RSS capability designed into it.
Bloglines a web-based reader that had been around for a while. If a teacher uses it to follow a group of blogs, the web feeder collects them all together in one spot, which makes his or her job much easier.

Syndication also makes it easier to follow topics in the news. For example, I was glad to see the New York Times and the Washington Post have RSS feeds for popular topics they cover. FeedDigest is a service that can put Web feeds on a class Web page. The page is automatically updated with the latest news on favorite topics as it’s visited. This is what is meant by the Web coming to you. As a news junkie I will be exploring these services.

Questions:

People concerned about technology worry that students are checking their skills at the classroom door. How is RSS helping to overcome that?

According to the Pew Foundation three in five teenagers have blogs or other online content. Blogs are becoming more popular with teenagers as a way to stay in touch and create friendship networks. By integrating blogs into class work students can use these skills they already have and they won’t have to dumb-down for class. RSS feeds can help track multiple student postings, help students collaborate, share images, and follow related news topics. It also helps the teachers follow the multiple blogs of their students.

What are some other good Web 2.0 tools out there to help with syndication and collaboration?
Writely, a web based word processor, allows students to jointly edit a document. Afterwards they click a Writely “blog” button and immediately post it for others to review. Flicker has RSS feeds that make class projects easier. Student establish common descriptor tags for photos so new images can be viewed in the news reader once they are posted by members of the group.

Journal #4 Create, Collaborate, Communicate: Empowering Students with 21st Century Skills

Riedel, Chris (2009, January). Create, Collaborate, Communicate: Empowering Students with 21st Century Skills. T.H.E. Journal, Retrieved March 10,2009, from
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23872_2


Apparently education is riding a horse and buggy into the 21st Century. This the article by Chris Riedel, which covers a speech given by Howie DiBlasi, recently at FETC 2009 has some sobering information,. According to the United States Department of Commerce the education sector ranks 55 in IT savvy--below coal mining (ouch!).


Diblasi is a retired district CIO on an evangelical mission. He would like to see the students more “at the center of the stage.” Educators should be developing students into editors and collaborators, not only readers and writers of content. This is what employers want, according to DiBlasi. He refers to a survey of 50 corporations, organizations, and small businesses that revealed the three most important things employers look for when recruiting: creative problem solving, critical and analytical thinking, and information gathering and evaluation. He warns against a system that lets students check their “robust” computer skills at the door when they enter the classroom.

He outlines 16 ways educators can better prepare students:

1.Hug a geek. Get help from those who thrive in the digital world.
2.Create a social network
3.Challenge students to develop problem solving skills
4.Collaborate on GoogleDocs
5.Use project-based learning
6.Teach them to evaluate sources
7. Encourage them to collaborate with other students globally
8. Discover RSS as a way to collect and publish information in a standardized format
9. Improve critical thinking skills
10. Teach them to be self-directed
11. Get a variety of disciplines collaborating together, as in a school blog.
12. Social bookmarking
13. Interactive video conferencing
14. Integrate Web 2.0 tools
15. Promote 1:1 computing
16. Staff development

Questions:

What does he mean by hug a geek?
Get help from those people who thrive in the digital world. If you’re struggling, find a mentor.

How can teaching kids to be “Self-directed” help them succeed?
It teaches them to push projects through to completion. They get the work done regardless of the tools of production. They are more dedicated to get things done when they are excited about the final product.

Journal #3 Keep them chatting online

Cole, Jeanie (2009, February). Keep them Chatting. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36 No.5, Retrieved 2/21/09, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200902/

Summary
Having problems getting your students to chat in a K-12 online course? Jeanie Cole has several suggestions for how to get them talking. Before starting teachers should plan the objectives and outcomes of each discussion. Her first suggestions is to ask high-level open ended questions that require collaboration where each member is responsible for a portion of the answer and comments on the other student‘s entries. Another approach is to ask them a question that requires research and problem solving and have them report it in Google’s shared documents. Show them an unexplained video clip, photograph, demonstration, or a simulation then pose a question, such as “Where did all the Mayas go?” Have them do detailed research and a group wiki about it. Teachers can pose a survey question like, “discuss the perfect rollercoaster” then have the students create a simulation based on their own specifications. A final suggestion is to use illogical comparisons, such as comparing Guinevere to Miss Piggy. Student can compare and contrast the two in a group wiki then create an Arthurian legend for Miss Piggy.

I thought she had some really creative ideas. I liked how each situation naturally required the student to use a range of skills, do additional research, and collaborate. It’s not easy to get students to go beyond what is required and to avoid the cut and paste mentality. Clearly her position as a manager of digital learning and instruction has given her plenty of experience in this area. I was impressed when she said that they’ve had to extend enrollment for some classes because the kids just keep talking and the discussions were so active and productive.

What psychology does she use to get the students involved?

She says that when students discover content for themselves they take ownership in their work. Also she taps into their sense of pride by allowing other students to view their work.

What ideas can I see myself using in a 9-12 class?

I liked the idea of introducing a lesson with a video clip or another unexplained visual. This could be used in a variety of subject areas. Her idea about comparing Miss Piggy to Guinevere and constructing an Arthurian legend could be adapted by allowing students to choose characters from their favorite T.V. shows.

Classroom Newsletter -NETS-T (3) Artifact

newsletterCF

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

I created a class newsletter with MS Word including a Masthead, graphics, color, articles, learning activities, a cartoon image, and Word Art. It's designed to help me communicate effectively with my students and community using digital-age media and formats.

Social Bookmarking Journal

1) At the National Archives Picturing the Century Exhibit I viewed a haunting photo of a mining family in the Post War America section. A mother and her children in a bleak room with newspapers on the wall as wallpaper. If you want to know what poverty looks like, here it is. Primary sources are the best because they are unedited. The reader, viewer, or listener can make their own judgments directly from the source. No spin. No looking through the lense of someone else's interpretation--a direct response. They're always the most interesting because they're the most real.

2) At the National Education Association website Acheivement Gaps page under "Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator," there are three ways to promote culural competence that fit my teaching style

• Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff. (This sounds fun, and like it would be a practical resource for both teachers and students. I have one good resource guide already. It would be interesting to collect stories, literature, folk tales, or other resources to spice up multicultural teaching, to learn what's available online. I like doing research sharing information and ideas.)
  
• Build and use a network of "natural helpers" at school and in the community as well as "experts" who have knowledge of the culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups served by your school. (I like making contacts and this just seems like a really good idea to have human resources on hand as mentors or consultants. We have people like this come to speak at my ESL class and the students really appreciate it.)
  
• Assess what your school staff perceive as their staff development needs related to providing services to each group. (This would be the first step before the attempting the other above approaches, it seems, and would fit in naturally with those efforts.)

3)At Kidsclick I found the Encyclopedia Mythica which appears to be a great site for finding myths, folk tales, legends ect. from a variety of cultures. It's written for a 7th grade level or higher.

4)Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a great site. I liked the Literature and ELA page. It had an endless array of resource material for teaching English. For example, there's a step-by-step guide for research and writing "help site" for high school students and a usage guide, book reviews, information about authors, free ebooks and a lot more.

5)Instructional Model on Multiple Intelligences. I've been introduced to the ideas before, but it was great to find a resource that explores it thoroughly; it's one thing to talk about in theory, but another thing to know how to identify the different learning styles, and how to teach to them. That's why I was particularly drawn to the section on listening in the classroom. I would like to understand better how to spot these differences early and adjust the classroom environment accordingly. I thought the powerpoint introuction in Resources was good because you could develop something like that targeted to your students to teach them how to identify their own intelligences, so that they know how they learn best, where their strengths are, and how to get the most out of their education whatever the setting--and to perhaps learn how to communicate to their teachers what works with them.

6)Teaching Tolerance. The lesson that I chose to tag was "Interviewing Immigrants" designed to help high school students be more sensitive to the needs and struggles of English Language learners at their schools. I though this was a brilliant idea. The teacher brings their history class to an EL class, and has the students interview fellow students who are learning English. The students don't know why they are going to the class and the element of surprise is part of recreating the immigrant experience for them. They sit down with a student and a helper to hear the students story of their journey to the U.S. and ask questions. They each have to:

• Find out how and why the person came to the United States.


• Sketch the route of the person's journey on the world map that I provided.


• Learn two phrases in the person's language and be ready to teach them to our class.
  

The activity is designed to help students appreciate and have empathy for their immigrant classmates and by having to learn phrases in another language themselves, they see how difficult and frustrating is can be. I think this is a great activity, especially in this area. There are som many misconceptions and unwarranted fears about immigration. This activity can not only reduce tensions, but help a student to make those connections to our common humanity. Also it's just very interesting to learn about other people's experiences. Students need to understand this country was built on immigration.

6)Multicultural Education and Equity Awareness Quiz. I was surprised by a couple of questions. First that the U.S. and U.K. treat their children worse than some of those other places. I know there are some serious poverty issues in places like India, so I was surprised that they ranked higher than we did. I've never been to India, but I've seen things in documentaries and film that showed some pretty dire circumstances, so I'm interested to learn more about that. I suspect it has to do in large part with health care, since we have nearly 50 million uninsured people many of whom are children. It may have something to do with education spending since I think our per capita spending is quite low compared to other countries, especially considering our wealth. I'd like to see the criteria that was used.

I was also appalled that doctors are giving subcare to their gay and lesbian patients. I would expect more mature, professional and compassionate behavior from them. I had been operating under the assumption that doctor's took their hippocratic oath more seriously than that.

I liked the question about crime and immigration. It was great to see that immigrant men are 5 times less likely to end up in jail than their white counterparts. Too many people blame crime on immigrants when all the ones I know are honest, hardworking people.

I thought it was obnoxious that legacy privileges can equal a higher SAT score of 10%, but not surprising. A lot of things didn't surprise me, like the high mortality rate of mothers in Africa, since they're aparently not getting the care they need. Childbirth has always been a big cause for high mortality in women; it was in this country too, for a long time. It's still shocking though to think that in modern times women are still dying in childbirth at these rates.

A lot of the questions about wealth didn't surprise me, although I did guess it would take a CEO at least a week to earn my annual salary.

8)Netiquette Guidelines. I got a 90% on the quiz. I missed question 3 about scrolling in chat rooms. I never go to chat rooms so I guessed on that one. I'm still not sure what scrolling means in this way. I figured it was reading back over the conversation.

It's essential to teach students about netiquette for the same reasons you teach them manners. So they won't embarrass themselves :/) or get into trouble, and to keep our humanity () and civiliity alive in an anonymous environment, where it's easier to foroget your still dealing with a person on the other end. With all our new technlogy tools for communication, we need to be respectful of other people's privacy, content rights, and their time.

Journal #2 Museums in the Classroom

Reissman, Rose (2009, February). Museums in the Classroom. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36 No.5, Retrieved 2/14/09, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200902/

Rose Reissman has come up with a great way to get your kids out of the classroom without ever leaving it--digital fieldtrips. By visiting a museum online students can do everything they would on a regular field trip: research, activities, view artifacts--and it’s free! In her article, Reissman highlights some good resources to help teachers plan a trip to a cyber museum. For example, www.resourcehelp.com/qser.museum.htm is a comprehensive search engine to hundreds of museums. She suggests having student turn the classroom, itself, into a museum to exhibit the students work. The site http://www.greatmuseums.org.virtual_museums.html/ would be helpful in planning one. There is even a site for museum glossary terms www.albanyinstitute.org/Education/Discovering. Finally, for teachers who don’t have experience integrating museums into their classrooms she suggests Going to a Museum? Resources for Educators at http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/it/projects/Museums. This site can help even experienced teachers with new ideas and step-by-step planning.

I think there are some great suggestions and tools in this article. I like her suggestion of using the cyber-visits to expand holiday units, like Thanksgiving, with a visit to the Pilgrim Hall Museum. I can see how visiting a local museum site could also encourage a visit to the actual museums later, perhaps with family members. Students could report to the class their out of class experience as well. I also like how this makes these museums available to all children, even those who don’t have the resources or the capabilities to visit museums.

Questions:


What do you think are some advantages to visiting a museum online?

Well for one thing, organizing a trip outside of class involves permission slips and a host of issues that it seems can be avoided here. Also there’s the equity issue of it being free and available to everyone, and it makes museum trips possible to places the class could never travel to anyway. It’s also a good way to generate interest and expose the children to the idea of a museum as a resource for information. It allows the students to explore their own individual interests in the subject.

How can visiting museums help with instruction?

It seems there’s a museum out there that can help supplement any teacher’s lesson plans. She mentions the National Cryptologic Museum as a way to use cryptograms to teach puzzle solving skills. Her suggestion of turning the classroom into a museum and showcasing student work seems like an activity rich with student involvement and creativity.

Journal #1 Passport to Digital Citizenship Review NETS-T (4) Artifact

Ribble, Mike. "Passport to Digital Citizenship." Learning & Leading with Technology (December/January 2008-09): 14-17.


In our current technology feeding frenzy, Mike Ribble asks us to stop and account for oursleves. Are we using technology appropriately? Are we good digital citizens? To qualify we must use technology safely, legally, and responsibly. We need to be committed to lifelong learning and have a positive attitude toward technology, while advocating appropriate use to others. In his article, Ribble identifies nine elements of digital citizenship: access; commerce; communication; literacy; etiquitte; law; rights and responsibilities; health and wellness; and last, but not least, security. However this is only the beginning of the conversation that should involve both teachers and parents; a four-stage cycle of integration is also necessary. The first stage is basic literacy coupled with instruction on appropriate use. Next is guided practice and exploration. Third, teachers and other adults need to practice what they preach and model good behavior, as well as discuss it. Fourth, adults offer constructive criticism on technology use--both in and out of school--in a supportive, open atmosphere.


I like Ribble's discussion of digital citizenship, although I would like to have seen a few more anecdotes or concrete examples. I think stories are always a good way to get your point across. The first time I read it, it seemed a bit jargon-laden with too many vague generalities. The second time I read it the ideas began to sink in better. But I think I'm a visual learner. And stories to me are like little movies in my mind that help me understand and remember things. For example, what would be an inappropriate use of technology in class? Are we talking about checking email or posting a video clip of your teacher biting into a ham sandwich. Outside of class are we talking about cyber-bullying or perhaps pirating music and selling cds on campus (like I saw one entrepreneurial middle school student do). I didn't see much on how parents are going to keep up with the pace of their children's use when some of them still look at a computer as though it's booby trapped. Perhaps he goes into more details in his book. Still he covered a lot of issues and showed how multifaceted the concept of digital citizenship is.


Questions:

What did you learn from this article about the status of your own digital citizenship?

There really is more to being technology savvy than just knowing how to perform a task on a computer. In looking over his nine elements of digital citizenship, I can see a need for improvement in every area. I guess I better read the book. I need to be less fearful in approaching some technology and experiment more in the area of communication. I'll go to Fry's or Best Buy and purchase new software, but I'm not always the first person to get the latest gadget. For me, if I don't own it, I probably won't learn to use it. I need to model a commitment to the technology. I love how President Obama refused to give up his Blackberry when he took office.

What insights did you get from the article on how to be a better teacher?

First of all, as teachers we need to model good digital citizenship. I liked the article's emphasis on working with parents. It's been apparent to me that some parents are lost when it come to technology and can't assist their children. For example, the class I'm substitute teaching for now uses the ARIES grading system and Turnitin.com (which is a website that checks papers for plaigerism). I've had calls from parents who have expressed trouble in using the system, so it would seem like a good idea to have a technology night where the parents could learn how to monitor their children's progress online. Perhaps this is already being done. Issues of safety, ettiquite, security, laws, and appropriate use could be addressed at such a meeting. This might be a way to start the conversation between parents, teachers, and students that the author mentions. I also liked the article's suggestion that teachers encourage an atmosphere of exploration and risk taking with new technologies. For his Eagle Scout project, my nephew created an animated public service announcement for the Houchin Blood Bank to encourage blood donation and it was really clever. He coordinated a group of other students in the project and it aired on television, but you wouldn't believe the resistance he got in proposing the project.

See my nephew's commercial spot on my education site list.

Introduction

Hi. My name is Christie Fisher. I'm a San Diego native. I grew up in Del Mar (I still surf). I went to Torrey Pines high school and Graduated from Brigham Young University with an English and Asian Studies Major.

As for technology I'm what they call a "digital immigrant." I'm trying to embrace the digital age, but it isn't always pretty. I think there were Amish people who got cell phones before I did. However, I am pretty comfortable with word processing and other basic skills and a couple years ago I even got brave and took an HTML class and designed a website. I check my email once a week whether it needs it or not. But I love the internet. I use it to get news, follow the market, do research, and develop lesson plans for my ESL class. I love my Nano, but still haven't figured out how to get podcasts and music downloads. However, I did set up my own wireless networking system at home. So I'm kind of a mixed bag. Don't shoot me but I have a PC. I have an HP laptop with Vista Home. I'm ruined though after our first class. Now I'll have to get a Mac.


I'm at CSUSM because I've heard they have a well respected teacher credentialing program. I'm glad to see the program is dedicated to preparing its teachers to reach all types of students. And to inspire them to serve and play a positive contributing role in society. This is a purpose that particularly resonates with me as an Adult Ed ESL teacher. My class is a melting pot of students from all over the world. It's enlightening to hear their stories and get their perspectives on things. They have varying degrees of education. They often arrive nervous and a little frightened. It's rewarding to see them bond with each other and their confidence grow, to see them get better jobs, obtain citizenship, to be able to take their kids to the doctor's office themselves and explain their problems. I'm currently substitute teaching a Social Justice class at LaCosta Canyon High School this month while the teacher is in Africa, and that's been a very great experience. We're just finishing up a book drive that will raise funds to provide books for children in Africa. The school and community have really rallied around the effort. The students are also very comfortable using technology for presentations and research. So I need this class to both reach them and keep up with them.