The strategies I use when I research depend entirely upon what I am researching. Back in college, when I was completing my thesis for my undergraduate degree, my research was grounded mainly in academic journals and dusty old academic texts found way down in the bowels of our library basement. I used Minerva, and other internet search engines to find these texts, both in the Colgate library (where I did my undergrad) and through inter-library loan from other schools in the region.
Now that I am in education, the research I do is much more web-directed. I feel that because education is a much more practical field than the philosophy and spiritual poetry of the world's religions, my research too has followed suit. It's quicker, more innovative, and probably more effective.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Entering the Blogosphere
After taking Young Adult Literature last summer with Sara Kajder, I was inspired to implement blogs into my classroom and even my team department this year. Unfortunately, because I only started my second year this year and had the responsibilities of KTIP, UofL classes, team leader, Language Arts Department Chair, and the looming KCCT tests in April for both On-Demand Writing and Arts and Humanities, I was too overwhelmed to be successful. The first two chapters of Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, have inspired me once again to try to implement blogs as a learning tool in my classroom.
As I was reading these chapters, my creative teaching juices started flowing, and I started thinking about ways in which I could use blogs with my classes next year. While I am at a slight disadvantage because many of my kids do not have internet access at home, I thought weekly class computer time might help solve this problem. Perhaps, if I were to require weekly blog entries from all my students, I could schedule weekly library or computer lab time. I also just recently learned that we have the opportunity to check out a cart of lap-tops. Students could use the blog assignments as an activity to complete when they are finished with their independent practice for daily mini-lessons. This required and highly meaningful activity could also serve as a motivational tool for encouraging students to finish their independent practice and move on to the Preferred Activity Time on the computer.
The book also provided a strong guide on the frontloading lessons I will have to conduct with my students in order to prepare them for safe and responsible use of the internet. I really liked the idea of the letter home, and I'll definitely "borrow" that idea for next year.
In terms of pedagogy, these chapters push to notion of classroom blogs as constructivist teaching tools in which students not only read, but intellectually interact with the material they read, and finally to push their responses all the way up Bloom's taxonomy. When I use blogs with my classes next year I plan to push them to respond to a variety of material, including assigned reading, class discussions, probing questions, and other students' posts. Also, I'd like to require my students to ask questions of each other, and respond to their peer's questions. That way, a rich, meaningful electronic discussion forum can develop to push my students to fully engage in language and all that we learn. As Richardson also notes, my quieter, more shy students might be more apt to participate in such a forum.
Another advantage of blogging, is the notion of the class archieve. This year, as I've asked my students to return to old Writer's Notebook entries or past assignments, they've often lost their work. With a blog, we will have all previous discussions and many written work stored for later reflection. This will be especially helpful now that the KCCT exams require a Reflective Entry in the portfolio. Finding material to reflect upon will be much easier to access.
I look forward to using blogs next year for a number of other reasons as well. Not only will I energetically implement them for their democratic forum, the electronic archieve, constructivist instruction, "hook" of technology, but also for the opportunity for ownership, an authentic audience, and the ability to easily connect to a broad swath of electronic links and resources.
As I was reading these chapters, my creative teaching juices started flowing, and I started thinking about ways in which I could use blogs with my classes next year. While I am at a slight disadvantage because many of my kids do not have internet access at home, I thought weekly class computer time might help solve this problem. Perhaps, if I were to require weekly blog entries from all my students, I could schedule weekly library or computer lab time. I also just recently learned that we have the opportunity to check out a cart of lap-tops. Students could use the blog assignments as an activity to complete when they are finished with their independent practice for daily mini-lessons. This required and highly meaningful activity could also serve as a motivational tool for encouraging students to finish their independent practice and move on to the Preferred Activity Time on the computer.
The book also provided a strong guide on the frontloading lessons I will have to conduct with my students in order to prepare them for safe and responsible use of the internet. I really liked the idea of the letter home, and I'll definitely "borrow" that idea for next year.
In terms of pedagogy, these chapters push to notion of classroom blogs as constructivist teaching tools in which students not only read, but intellectually interact with the material they read, and finally to push their responses all the way up Bloom's taxonomy. When I use blogs with my classes next year I plan to push them to respond to a variety of material, including assigned reading, class discussions, probing questions, and other students' posts. Also, I'd like to require my students to ask questions of each other, and respond to their peer's questions. That way, a rich, meaningful electronic discussion forum can develop to push my students to fully engage in language and all that we learn. As Richardson also notes, my quieter, more shy students might be more apt to participate in such a forum.
Another advantage of blogging, is the notion of the class archieve. This year, as I've asked my students to return to old Writer's Notebook entries or past assignments, they've often lost their work. With a blog, we will have all previous discussions and many written work stored for later reflection. This will be especially helpful now that the KCCT exams require a Reflective Entry in the portfolio. Finding material to reflect upon will be much easier to access.
I look forward to using blogs next year for a number of other reasons as well. Not only will I energetically implement them for their democratic forum, the electronic archieve, constructivist instruction, "hook" of technology, but also for the opportunity for ownership, an authentic audience, and the ability to easily connect to a broad swath of electronic links and resources.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Technology Autobiography
When my kids (that is, my students) ask me if I have a Myspace account, I feel ethically compelled to look them in the eye and say, "No; I am too old for Myspace." The sad truth is, however, that not only do I have a fairly well-manicured Myspace account, but also that I am so addicted to Myspace, I cannot bear to close my account. Not even the looming threat of my students seeing my smiling face and all my personal life hanging out like electronic laundry can tear me from the network. It's pathetic. But it also reinforces how close I am to being my students' peer: not just in raw years, but also to the generation of the "natural born" technology specialist. The digital wiz. The computer geek, who is no geek at all, but just a regular person lucky enough to be born in the 1980s or later. A child of the Information Age.
I remember computers as we used them when I was in school. Because I was artistic at an early age, I remember being fascinated by a rather primitive version of Microsoft Paint. Of course all our computers back then were Apple computers. The beige, green-screened kind. We played "Driver" and "Oregon Trail" for fun. For academics, we were challenged to memorize the letters, numbers, and various punctuation marks on the keyboard - some utterly useless infomormation I'm not sure I could even do now unless I consciously followed my fingers.
When my father was in law school, I remember his Word Processor. Hardly a computer at all - more a glorified typewriter - it punched out stacks upon stacks of legal documents, which required de-edging along symmetrical perforated strips. Even then I was fascinated by the technology, and I made confetti out of the printer left-overs.
Then I remember our first home computer. Delight of delights - I painted pictures on Microsoft Paint, played countless trivia games, improved my Solitaire and Free-Cell skills to champion status. And of course there were always the book reports and typed papers. It wasn't until late junior high, however, when I remember AOL and chat rooms. I remember posting my always-vociferous political opinions on message boards, unaware of the creeps no doubt lurking throughout cyber-space.
Looking back on my childhood experiences with technology, gives me great insight into how my students perceive their own opportunities for such resources. There was excitement, fascination, and, I suppose, some sense of entitlement, or of acceptance of the natural course of things, and, not doubt, plenty of naivete. Educating students on the dangers and necessary precautions can keep them safe, while harnessing their natural fascination can serve us educators as a tool of engagement for educational purposes.
Since I've been in education, I've forced myself to become even more in touch with techonology, and to learn about advance beyond Microsoft Word, Google, and Webmail. I've found PowerPoint presentations as a superior means of leading class discussion. I've also discovered interactive tools on the program to help engage students. Using the LCD projector has helped too, because the screen is large enough for the entire class to see. With the LCD projector, I've also been able to demonstrate search engines, documentation, paraphrasing, revisions, and editing techniques for my students on the internet and in Word documents. The LCD projector and tablet have been indespensible for me as a language arts teacher.
Finally, my latest discoveries in technology have been two web-based programs that have helped improve my communications with parents. Engrade.com is the online gradebook program I use to record and average my grades. Students and parents are then able to access their own grades (with an ID and password) from any computer that has internet access. Also, I have a classroom website at TeacherWeb.com on which I record the weekly agenda and homework assignments. This is helpful to many families, when the student is working on responsibility skills and the parents like to stay informed.
From this class I hope to gain access to more technologies and teaching strategies that can help me to be a more engaging and effective teacher. I'm excited to make a new digital movie, and brainstorm ways in which I can use this activity with my students. I also look forward to planning how to implement wikkis and flikr with my classes, as I'm always looking for ways to improve my lessons and capture the kids' attention. Computer technology is already something the kids are engaged in; why not turn that engagement toward something meaningful and substantial beyond r u gon out 2 nite?
I remember computers as we used them when I was in school. Because I was artistic at an early age, I remember being fascinated by a rather primitive version of Microsoft Paint. Of course all our computers back then were Apple computers. The beige, green-screened kind. We played "Driver" and "Oregon Trail" for fun. For academics, we were challenged to memorize the letters, numbers, and various punctuation marks on the keyboard - some utterly useless infomormation I'm not sure I could even do now unless I consciously followed my fingers.
When my father was in law school, I remember his Word Processor. Hardly a computer at all - more a glorified typewriter - it punched out stacks upon stacks of legal documents, which required de-edging along symmetrical perforated strips. Even then I was fascinated by the technology, and I made confetti out of the printer left-overs.
Then I remember our first home computer. Delight of delights - I painted pictures on Microsoft Paint, played countless trivia games, improved my Solitaire and Free-Cell skills to champion status. And of course there were always the book reports and typed papers. It wasn't until late junior high, however, when I remember AOL and chat rooms. I remember posting my always-vociferous political opinions on message boards, unaware of the creeps no doubt lurking throughout cyber-space.
Looking back on my childhood experiences with technology, gives me great insight into how my students perceive their own opportunities for such resources. There was excitement, fascination, and, I suppose, some sense of entitlement, or of acceptance of the natural course of things, and, not doubt, plenty of naivete. Educating students on the dangers and necessary precautions can keep them safe, while harnessing their natural fascination can serve us educators as a tool of engagement for educational purposes.
Since I've been in education, I've forced myself to become even more in touch with techonology, and to learn about advance beyond Microsoft Word, Google, and Webmail. I've found PowerPoint presentations as a superior means of leading class discussion. I've also discovered interactive tools on the program to help engage students. Using the LCD projector has helped too, because the screen is large enough for the entire class to see. With the LCD projector, I've also been able to demonstrate search engines, documentation, paraphrasing, revisions, and editing techniques for my students on the internet and in Word documents. The LCD projector and tablet have been indespensible for me as a language arts teacher.
Finally, my latest discoveries in technology have been two web-based programs that have helped improve my communications with parents. Engrade.com is the online gradebook program I use to record and average my grades. Students and parents are then able to access their own grades (with an ID and password) from any computer that has internet access. Also, I have a classroom website at TeacherWeb.com on which I record the weekly agenda and homework assignments. This is helpful to many families, when the student is working on responsibility skills and the parents like to stay informed.
From this class I hope to gain access to more technologies and teaching strategies that can help me to be a more engaging and effective teacher. I'm excited to make a new digital movie, and brainstorm ways in which I can use this activity with my students. I also look forward to planning how to implement wikkis and flikr with my classes, as I'm always looking for ways to improve my lessons and capture the kids' attention. Computer technology is already something the kids are engaged in; why not turn that engagement toward something meaningful and substantial beyond r u gon out 2 nite?
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