Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Looking at my concept map you can see what I took away from this class for the most part.
I have to admit that I was looking forward to the technology class. Not only from the standpoint of someone who loves all things related to computers, but to see how it was being incorporated in the classroom. To that end it was both expected and unexpected. A lot of the information seemed to rehashing old material for me, but I know it wasn’t for some of my classmates. Seeing how this technology could be used in the classroom was useful because when it came to utilizing it effectively my creative well was pretty empty. I do think that one question that seemed to run constantly through my mind was how we going to use this material if we were at a school without the necessary resources. It is all nice and good to learn about this, but if we don’t have the necessary equipment it is going to be a little tough. I know we addressed this question in our “Bridging the Digital Divide” strategy, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success unfortunately. Regardless of that, I did encounter a lot of new applications that seemed incredibly useful both inside and outside the classroom.
I could go on and on about the applications, but I’m just going to mention a few of my favorites. The bibliography applications had me shaking my head and wondering where they were when I was editing manuscripts. If you’ve ever used Reference Manager you’ll know what I’m talking about. Evernote spoke to my organizational side. I’m definitely one of those people that constantly emails myself stuff so I’ll remember later. Glogster let me exercise my out of shape creative muscles. The fact that a lot of these programs had an educational component was great. To give teachers tools of such functionality is probably a boon for many.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I am constantly amazed at how much technology we use in the classroom today. I can remember being in school, the only interaction we had with computers was in typing class. It was unheard of to utilize email. Teachers today use email to communicate with students in the same way that past teachers used pen and paper to get the message across. It amazes me how far I have come in my personal journey with technology. When I graduated from high school, I was only vaguely aware of the usefulness of the Internet. Even 10 years ago when I was an undergraduate student at UF, I didn’t rely on it nearly as much as I do today. Both graduate school and this class have made me realize the importance of technology in the classroom. In developing my lesson plans I use the Internet for nearly every aspect. It has saved me several trips to the library. The Internet is usually the first place I go when I need something, be it information or products. I hate to say it, but the library seems to becoming an almost antiquated concept.
So, when you ask me about the digital divide, I might scoff at the idea, except I have seen a broad spectrum of the haves and have nots. This article makes it clear that the digital divide is relevant. It illustrates the haves and have nots, bringing into startingly clarity what technology does for the classrom. A teacher with something as simple as a Smart Board is able to draw upon the wide resources of the Internet to enhance lectures with pictures, music, even videos. It is a credit to those teachers without access to technology that they can engage their students for the allotted time period. In some cases the lack of technology is not even due to a lack of resources (i.e. computers) but lack of training on the part of the teachers. Considering the future, technology is going to play a large part. We are doing our students a great disservice by not implementing technology in our classrooms. The question that was raised is how would we bridge the digital divide if the technology was not available?
Ideally when I finally find a job, it will be at a school with the latest technology. Realistically, considering today’s job market, that might be something of a slim hope. I might be relegated to scheduling time at the computer lab for students to utilize technology. Although, since a large majority of the student population carries a cell phone, it would not be unreasonable to assume that they could utilize applications such as Twitter. Of course, this is only if I choose to sit idly by and not pursue a course of action that could connect students with a larger network. Connecting students to the Internet would effectively put the power in their hands. Letting them take charge of their own academic journey, perhaps giving students a reason to become interested in the content. Several possibilities exist for this to occur. One teacher of my acquaintance was able to persuade the PTA to fund the purchasing of new textbooks. There is no reason to think the same could not be done in terms of technology. Parents today are aware of the importance of technology in their jobs, so they know their children must be prepared. I’m sure all it might take is demonstrating the importance of technology. America Offline does that. A movement created by Freepress, America Offline is trying to show the world the impact NOT having the Internet has. Getting the PTA to fund the purchase of netbooks after watching some of these videos might become a walk in the park.
In addition, there are hundreds of federal grants that provide money for any reason under the sun. It is more than likely that a teacher could write a grant that would provide them with the funds to purchase computers, Smart Boards, or PCs. Funding School Technology website alone provided more than several opportunities for grant money. It is only a matter of taking charge, in essence becoming a teacher leader and going above what is required. Of course, the other issue is not just resources, but teacher training. Fortunately for me I am pretty up on technology as I find it entirely too useful and fun to play around with. I like having the latest gadget. I hope to make this the status quo for the course of my career. Not to mention I’m going to have to stay knowledgeable just to keep up with my son.
Some people might complain that they do not know how to utilize technology in the classroom. To me that is just a sign of laziness on the part of the teacher. In my brief research I found a plethora of teacher related information on how to integrate technology into the classroom. In the course of this class I have found several useful blogs that are always supplying ideas on how to use technology. Interesting Ways at the EDTE.CH blog provided me with several presentations on how to utilize not only a Smart Board, but the DS. I have always thought the DS is not utilized to its maximum here in the United States, although with the advent of program like Word Coach that is becoming a thing of the past. In Japan, it is utilized to teach children kanji, hiragana, and English. It also provided a ton of other useful ideas on utilizing technology.
It is the Internet that has put primary sources at our fingertips and brought current events to our computer screen and really made them current (i.e. Twitter). Websites offering teachers training and where to find seminars exist, putting technology within the teacher’s grasp. There is no room for teachers to be afraid of technology because it’s importance is immediate and they are doing their students a grave disservice by not learning to use it. I found some great information on technology training at Education World: Technology Integration, not to mention a load of other technology resources. So really teachers have no excuse not to learn. I have discovered that there are some things we may not like to do, but that is definitely no excuse not to do them. Not only does using technology help the student, but it can help you by providing online educational seminars and tutorials, like the Virtual Workshop archive. Actually, the whole page at Education World is very useful in terms of teacher usability.
Bridging the Digital Divide . . . why, it is as easy as crossing a bridge ♥
So, when you ask me about the digital divide, I might scoff at the idea, except I have seen a broad spectrum of the haves and have nots. This article makes it clear that the digital divide is relevant. It illustrates the haves and have nots, bringing into startingly clarity what technology does for the classrom. A teacher with something as simple as a Smart Board is able to draw upon the wide resources of the Internet to enhance lectures with pictures, music, even videos. It is a credit to those teachers without access to technology that they can engage their students for the allotted time period. In some cases the lack of technology is not even due to a lack of resources (i.e. computers) but lack of training on the part of the teachers. Considering the future, technology is going to play a large part. We are doing our students a great disservice by not implementing technology in our classrooms. The question that was raised is how would we bridge the digital divide if the technology was not available?
Ideally when I finally find a job, it will be at a school with the latest technology. Realistically, considering today’s job market, that might be something of a slim hope. I might be relegated to scheduling time at the computer lab for students to utilize technology. Although, since a large majority of the student population carries a cell phone, it would not be unreasonable to assume that they could utilize applications such as Twitter. Of course, this is only if I choose to sit idly by and not pursue a course of action that could connect students with a larger network. Connecting students to the Internet would effectively put the power in their hands. Letting them take charge of their own academic journey, perhaps giving students a reason to become interested in the content. Several possibilities exist for this to occur. One teacher of my acquaintance was able to persuade the PTA to fund the purchasing of new textbooks. There is no reason to think the same could not be done in terms of technology. Parents today are aware of the importance of technology in their jobs, so they know their children must be prepared. I’m sure all it might take is demonstrating the importance of technology. America Offline does that. A movement created by Freepress, America Offline is trying to show the world the impact NOT having the Internet has. Getting the PTA to fund the purchase of netbooks after watching some of these videos might become a walk in the park.
In addition, there are hundreds of federal grants that provide money for any reason under the sun. It is more than likely that a teacher could write a grant that would provide them with the funds to purchase computers, Smart Boards, or PCs. Funding School Technology website alone provided more than several opportunities for grant money. It is only a matter of taking charge, in essence becoming a teacher leader and going above what is required. Of course, the other issue is not just resources, but teacher training. Fortunately for me I am pretty up on technology as I find it entirely too useful and fun to play around with. I like having the latest gadget. I hope to make this the status quo for the course of my career. Not to mention I’m going to have to stay knowledgeable just to keep up with my son.
Some people might complain that they do not know how to utilize technology in the classroom. To me that is just a sign of laziness on the part of the teacher. In my brief research I found a plethora of teacher related information on how to integrate technology into the classroom. In the course of this class I have found several useful blogs that are always supplying ideas on how to use technology. Interesting Ways at the EDTE.CH blog provided me with several presentations on how to utilize not only a Smart Board, but the DS. I have always thought the DS is not utilized to its maximum here in the United States, although with the advent of program like Word Coach that is becoming a thing of the past. In Japan, it is utilized to teach children kanji, hiragana, and English. It also provided a ton of other useful ideas on utilizing technology.
It is the Internet that has put primary sources at our fingertips and brought current events to our computer screen and really made them current (i.e. Twitter). Websites offering teachers training and where to find seminars exist, putting technology within the teacher’s grasp. There is no room for teachers to be afraid of technology because it’s importance is immediate and they are doing their students a grave disservice by not learning to use it. I found some great information on technology training at Education World: Technology Integration, not to mention a load of other technology resources. So really teachers have no excuse not to learn. I have discovered that there are some things we may not like to do, but that is definitely no excuse not to do them. Not only does using technology help the student, but it can help you by providing online educational seminars and tutorials, like the Virtual Workshop archive. Actually, the whole page at Education World is very useful in terms of teacher usability.
Bridging the Digital Divide . . . why, it is as easy as crossing a bridge ♥
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
When I hear the term teacher leader, what do I think? I think of someone who sets an example at their school, either by implementing new classroom techniques or keeping up to date. It is important for teachers to take the lead because in a sense they already are leaders, whether they want to be or not. They lead young students in shaping their minds and preparing them for the future. To this end, teachers need to take a stand and advocate for their students. By advocate, I do not mean just go forth and try to get funding, but it is important for teachers to also stay on top of things, whether that means attending conferences or getting recertified. There are many roles for the teacher to play:
• choosing textbooks and instructional materials;
• shaping the curriculum;
• setting standards for student behavior;
• deciding whether students are tracked into special classes;
• designing staff development and in-service programs;
• setting promotion and retention policies;
• deciding school budgets;
• evaluating teacher performance;
• selecting new teachers; and
• selecting new administrators.
We must also realize that just because we went through a teaching program, we are not all automatically teacher leaders. It takes more work than that. This article provides a great explanation of what it means to be a teacher leader and what can be done to achieve this goal. It definitely gave me something to think about. It also talks about teacher leadership in all its aspects.
Teacher Leader Network brings together teacher leaders from across the country. It helps them hold conversations and discuss ideas for improving their leadership. As the website says, it is responsible for:
Engaging in daily discussions around practice and policy,
Collaborating on action research and other projects for improved student learning,
Sharing their content and pedagogical expertise with pre-service and in-service teachers, and
Refining their policy insights and contributing their voices to the decisions that affect the students and communities they serve
all great ways to encourage teacher leadership. Do I plan to be a teacher leader? I would like to. It is important to keep up on the latest techniques if you want to provide students with the best advantages life has to offer. It is important to attend conferences and continuing education classes, whatever it takes.
So, here is my question to you, one more of curiosity . . . what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of teacher leadership? Why?
• choosing textbooks and instructional materials;
• shaping the curriculum;
• setting standards for student behavior;
• deciding whether students are tracked into special classes;
• designing staff development and in-service programs;
• setting promotion and retention policies;
• deciding school budgets;
• evaluating teacher performance;
• selecting new teachers; and
• selecting new administrators.
We must also realize that just because we went through a teaching program, we are not all automatically teacher leaders. It takes more work than that. This article provides a great explanation of what it means to be a teacher leader and what can be done to achieve this goal. It definitely gave me something to think about. It also talks about teacher leadership in all its aspects.
Teacher Leader Network brings together teacher leaders from across the country. It helps them hold conversations and discuss ideas for improving their leadership. As the website says, it is responsible for:
Engaging in daily discussions around practice and policy,
Collaborating on action research and other projects for improved student learning,
Sharing their content and pedagogical expertise with pre-service and in-service teachers, and
Refining their policy insights and contributing their voices to the decisions that affect the students and communities they serve
all great ways to encourage teacher leadership. Do I plan to be a teacher leader? I would like to. It is important to keep up on the latest techniques if you want to provide students with the best advantages life has to offer. It is important to attend conferences and continuing education classes, whatever it takes.
So, here is my question to you, one more of curiosity . . . what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of teacher leadership? Why?
Friday, October 30, 2009
Networked Learning
It seems to me that this class has been geared toward preparing us “preservice teachers” for the networked student, not that I’m complaining. I believe the Internet and the wide variety of applications available make for a wonderful and useful learning tool. Not only does the Internet make the world a much smaller place, but it encourages communication on all levels. It becomes a facilitator for the easy exchange of ideas, not just between friends, but also between professionals and students. The two examples that come to mind right now are the TED talks and MIT OpenCourseWare. Two resources that enable students to further enhance their knowledge, which prior to the Internet would have been impossible. I only wish this technology had been readily available to me when I was in high school or even college, as I’m slightly older. My family didn’t have readily available access to the Internet until about 1994 and even then it was only dial-up. Considering how far we’ve come, I might shrivel up and die if I had to go back to dial-up.
To that end, in order for students to be able to utilize this wonderful tool that has been given us they must be digitally literate. It is a sink or swim situation, especially in light of the future job market. If students are not prepared to use this tool to its full potential they could lose out on valuable opportunities. There are so many useful applications that can be utilized by teachers not only to increase the learning potential of students, but also make their lives easier. It does ask that the teacher relinquish a bit of control, but she is still necessary to guide the students’ quest for knowledge. The teacher is still necessary to point the student in the right direction. It is also up to the teacher to teach the student how to authenticate the knowledge found out there on the Internet. As we all know, it is not all legit. I can envision all sorts of ways to use this knowledge and hope to have the opportunity to do so in the classroom. Unfortunately, not everyone has the access necessary to enjoy the benefits. I would hope that maybe I would be at a school that has access to a computer lab where I might be able to schedule time for my students. Nowadays with the advent of cell phone technology, students would still be able to a smaller degree to remain digitally connected. Although with the new smart phones, especially the iPhone, Internet connectivity looks to become stronger, so applications like Twitter would still be useful in the classroom.
Not only that, but there is loads of information out there for teachers on how to utilize this new medium in the classroom. In my perusing, I found Network Learning which goes a long way toward offering ideas and technology toward becoming networked. It won’t just be the student who has to become networked, but the teacher as well. It will be important for the teacher to become digitally literate; they’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century if necessary. It is no longer about what the teacher is comfortable with, but about doing what is best for the student.
So, what am I trying to say is that the students of today have to be digital literate. Sometimes I think about the American Education System in comparison to some of the countries in the world and can only think we are seriously lacking. If we want to get an advantage it would be in our best interests to capitalize on these resources in the classroom.
Although I will be honest that during my experience in Japan, computers were not utilized at all in the school where I worked, but on the other hand students spent an unspeakable amount of hours studying. So, is this a mixed message? What do you think? Do you think the advantage might lie in gaining a technological edge?
To that end, in order for students to be able to utilize this wonderful tool that has been given us they must be digitally literate. It is a sink or swim situation, especially in light of the future job market. If students are not prepared to use this tool to its full potential they could lose out on valuable opportunities. There are so many useful applications that can be utilized by teachers not only to increase the learning potential of students, but also make their lives easier. It does ask that the teacher relinquish a bit of control, but she is still necessary to guide the students’ quest for knowledge. The teacher is still necessary to point the student in the right direction. It is also up to the teacher to teach the student how to authenticate the knowledge found out there on the Internet. As we all know, it is not all legit. I can envision all sorts of ways to use this knowledge and hope to have the opportunity to do so in the classroom. Unfortunately, not everyone has the access necessary to enjoy the benefits. I would hope that maybe I would be at a school that has access to a computer lab where I might be able to schedule time for my students. Nowadays with the advent of cell phone technology, students would still be able to a smaller degree to remain digitally connected. Although with the new smart phones, especially the iPhone, Internet connectivity looks to become stronger, so applications like Twitter would still be useful in the classroom.
Not only that, but there is loads of information out there for teachers on how to utilize this new medium in the classroom. In my perusing, I found Network Learning which goes a long way toward offering ideas and technology toward becoming networked. It won’t just be the student who has to become networked, but the teacher as well. It will be important for the teacher to become digitally literate; they’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century if necessary. It is no longer about what the teacher is comfortable with, but about doing what is best for the student.
So, what am I trying to say is that the students of today have to be digital literate. Sometimes I think about the American Education System in comparison to some of the countries in the world and can only think we are seriously lacking. If we want to get an advantage it would be in our best interests to capitalize on these resources in the classroom.
Although I will be honest that during my experience in Japan, computers were not utilized at all in the school where I worked, but on the other hand students spent an unspeakable amount of hours studying. So, is this a mixed message? What do you think? Do you think the advantage might lie in gaining a technological edge?
Friday, October 23, 2009
Who's surprised that I would choose Japan?
It might be a little rough reading it, since it had to fit it within the borders of my blog. Here's the link to the original.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Chance Lyman - www.xtranormal.com
Chance - www.xtranormal.com - Relate content to students and use technology. Active Participation in a Democracy - students will be shown that voting is not the only way to be active in government. Students will create a movie, wiki page, draft a letter, etc in an attempt to have their voice heard according to a rubric they are given at the start. This project is designed to raise awareness of controversial issues.
Zahra - Voting Rights - key people in voting rights, women's suffrage, create a lesson to put on a website which could be utilized to teach to students.
Michael - concentrated on oral history, focusing on senior citizens in nursing homes, record their stories on garageband, making digital history of life 75 years ago. Upload the information to youtube. Projects on youtube.
Adam - voter registration, observing trends over time, motivating people to vote or the issues that are happening. In Florida, you can pre-register to vote at 16 in Florida. Digital presentation to encourage voting. Securing television time.
Meg - Human trafficking. Reconstruction of amendments and outlawing slavery. Website for highschool students to address this issue. Spreading awareness. Students would get into four groups, what type of people are enslaved today? What is the USA doing to discourage trafficking laws? Etc. Students could do a podcast, brochure, some type of visual presentation. Compile on to a website to have a resource. Culminate in a letter writing campaign to change laws and encourage change. One way in which important is that most people don't know who their senators or representatives are. The blue heart is the symbol of the anti-human trafficking campaign.
Jennifer - Military letter writing. When you send letters across the ocean it takes a long time to get there. Students would create a wiki or blog where students can write to all branches of the military. Men and women in the military can respond on blogs and talk about whatever they want.
Josh - Look into the past - November 11 is just another day that students have off. Students would pick a veteran and do a 30 minute interview to get an essential idea of who the person was during the war. Students would do research online just to get basic background knowledge about the relevant war. After the interview, students would do a podcast of about 2 minutes to record the important aspect of the students veteran's participation in the war. Students would create a blog about their participation with the veterans. Show veterans what was created and compiled. Total of 3 blogs to which each students would have to respond. Better understanding of American history.
Mark - War on drugs and generating awareness. Students would observe all the aspects of the war on drugs. Budgetary issues are resulting in budget cuts in key areas, such as policemen. Students would create wiki that would go over all aspects of the war on drugs. Once they gained awareness to the war on drugs they would write a letter writing campaign on an issue they favor.
Meagan - Aimed toward middle school, supporting a soldier. Working through school and community to garner support from people in the community. People would be paired up to make awareness in the school with a website. Monthly students would write their penpal and update a vlog with progress. Weekly teachers would present questions about what they have learned. Students will learn about the geography, history, etc.
Elizabeth - Operation Christmas Child - different cultures and traditions. Students would discover what other children do around the holidays, especially those less fortunate than them. Students will create a Christmas box. Students would conduct interviews and blog about that. Students would do a technological assessment. It should be more personal to students.
Eric - Using the Internet to improve the life of the elderly. Students would visit retirement home and talk to them. Receive consent to interview and do a presentation on senior citizens. Work with residents to use social networks, messaging, email, etc. Follow up questionnaire regarding communication and life satisfaction. Compile information into an essay.
Elizabeth - Increasing cultural awareness. The conflict abroad is resulting in problems here. Relate to immigration over the past century. Going to poll the school for heritage. Research the culture most represented by the school. Create a wiki. School wide presentation. Organize "increasing cultural awareness" fair for the school and community.
Mallory - Habitat for Humanity - economics/civics class. Students would work with habitat to determine costs of building houses. Research effective ways and interview volunteers. Students would place reports on wikis. Students will interview families who have received homes. Can choose whatever technological medium to do this. Advocating for habitat and telling the families stories. Will tie it in with what they've learned about homelessness and urban economics. Write a post on wiki and graded.
Louisa - People in nursing homes are very lonely. Students will write questions to address daily aspects of their lives. Will go to a nursing home with the same questions. Things seen and heard on the news. Students will interview local nursing home residents. Will videotape their interview and upload it onto the wiki. Compare/contrast. Viewing party at the nursing home. Students will present all the videos that were made as a result of their work. Will understand that their stories are still important. Wikis, Internet, Video Podcasts.
Mark - Environment and global warning - students find the politician in their area to help communicate about global warning. Keeps information updated on class wiki. Biographical sketch about the politician interviewed. Storybird.com
Katy - Impact of historical events on people. Answer question and post to website. Will visit nursing home. Major historical event and interview a person and how it affected them. Students will create videos and audio presentation. Will post to class site along with their reflection.
Jeff - How people affect the environment around them. Teaching students about wildlife and their environment. Post to blog their experiences about cleaning up.
Megan - Research presidential elections - voter turnout, trends, who voted, information dispersed, how government has affected lives, students will visit a retirement home. Students will interview old people and discover why trends occurred. Class will make a podcast of their research and interviews. Mini history oral project. Writing aspect along with a thank you note.
Brittany - Survey voting turnout. Attempting to get young people to vote. Typically they don't vote with as much fervor as old people. Work in groups to compile questions. Make a survey using survey monkey.
Questions must be well crafted. Make posters to get out the vote. Students would present to the class using whatever medium they wanted. Assess whether or not students understand what is being done.
Nicole - voting and campaigning - becoming a responsible citizen. Young people don't vote nor do a lot of demographic groups that are not aware. Students will try to raise awareness by running their own election. Using a google motion chart to monitor trends, make a podcast, create their own polling questions.
Angie - Students learning about their individual rights. Will create a website. Students will select a topic pertaining to individual rights. Small groups dependent on how many students you have participating. Each group would have a section of the wiki. Organize a get it right fair that would take place during a school day. Students will create an interactive display on their topic. Speakers come in to talk or communicate issues and concerns. At the end, visitors would vote on their favorite display.
Ali - Muslim American. Students research media for information on Muslim Americans. Will include reading trade book 14 yr girl living in America during 9/11. Interviewing people for perspectives on the Patriot Act. Gain more knowledge, correlate with Japanese-Americans during WWII. Spreading news about the needs of immigrants. Create wikis about the Patriot Act, using their interviews and information acquired to spread the knowledge.
Carrie - Oral History - choose a family member or landmark that was built as representation of the Cold War. Students would take a digital or video camera and create an article. Articles will be uploaded to a wiki. Bring in history of local community. Invite other classrooms and communities to be involved in the wiki. Expand knowledge of community during the Cold War. A whole wiki of the communities history.
Gigi - Study the geography of Haiti, would network with another student from Haiti. Most likely it would be a private school that has access to Internet. Students would use a wiki and allow them to learn about cultural values and whatnot. Students would have a class website of what they learned, using podcasts and videos. Final project would be to introduce it to the entire school. Students would collect funds/supplies to send to the students.
Zahra - Voting Rights - key people in voting rights, women's suffrage, create a lesson to put on a website which could be utilized to teach to students.
Michael - concentrated on oral history, focusing on senior citizens in nursing homes, record their stories on garageband, making digital history of life 75 years ago. Upload the information to youtube. Projects on youtube.
Adam - voter registration, observing trends over time, motivating people to vote or the issues that are happening. In Florida, you can pre-register to vote at 16 in Florida. Digital presentation to encourage voting. Securing television time.
Meg - Human trafficking. Reconstruction of amendments and outlawing slavery. Website for highschool students to address this issue. Spreading awareness. Students would get into four groups, what type of people are enslaved today? What is the USA doing to discourage trafficking laws? Etc. Students could do a podcast, brochure, some type of visual presentation. Compile on to a website to have a resource. Culminate in a letter writing campaign to change laws and encourage change. One way in which important is that most people don't know who their senators or representatives are. The blue heart is the symbol of the anti-human trafficking campaign.
Jennifer - Military letter writing. When you send letters across the ocean it takes a long time to get there. Students would create a wiki or blog where students can write to all branches of the military. Men and women in the military can respond on blogs and talk about whatever they want.
Josh - Look into the past - November 11 is just another day that students have off. Students would pick a veteran and do a 30 minute interview to get an essential idea of who the person was during the war. Students would do research online just to get basic background knowledge about the relevant war. After the interview, students would do a podcast of about 2 minutes to record the important aspect of the students veteran's participation in the war. Students would create a blog about their participation with the veterans. Show veterans what was created and compiled. Total of 3 blogs to which each students would have to respond. Better understanding of American history.
Mark - War on drugs and generating awareness. Students would observe all the aspects of the war on drugs. Budgetary issues are resulting in budget cuts in key areas, such as policemen. Students would create wiki that would go over all aspects of the war on drugs. Once they gained awareness to the war on drugs they would write a letter writing campaign on an issue they favor.
Meagan - Aimed toward middle school, supporting a soldier. Working through school and community to garner support from people in the community. People would be paired up to make awareness in the school with a website. Monthly students would write their penpal and update a vlog with progress. Weekly teachers would present questions about what they have learned. Students will learn about the geography, history, etc.
Elizabeth - Operation Christmas Child - different cultures and traditions. Students would discover what other children do around the holidays, especially those less fortunate than them. Students will create a Christmas box. Students would conduct interviews and blog about that. Students would do a technological assessment. It should be more personal to students.
Eric - Using the Internet to improve the life of the elderly. Students would visit retirement home and talk to them. Receive consent to interview and do a presentation on senior citizens. Work with residents to use social networks, messaging, email, etc. Follow up questionnaire regarding communication and life satisfaction. Compile information into an essay.
Elizabeth - Increasing cultural awareness. The conflict abroad is resulting in problems here. Relate to immigration over the past century. Going to poll the school for heritage. Research the culture most represented by the school. Create a wiki. School wide presentation. Organize "increasing cultural awareness" fair for the school and community.
Mallory - Habitat for Humanity - economics/civics class. Students would work with habitat to determine costs of building houses. Research effective ways and interview volunteers. Students would place reports on wikis. Students will interview families who have received homes. Can choose whatever technological medium to do this. Advocating for habitat and telling the families stories. Will tie it in with what they've learned about homelessness and urban economics. Write a post on wiki and graded.
Louisa - People in nursing homes are very lonely. Students will write questions to address daily aspects of their lives. Will go to a nursing home with the same questions. Things seen and heard on the news. Students will interview local nursing home residents. Will videotape their interview and upload it onto the wiki. Compare/contrast. Viewing party at the nursing home. Students will present all the videos that were made as a result of their work. Will understand that their stories are still important. Wikis, Internet, Video Podcasts.
Mark - Environment and global warning - students find the politician in their area to help communicate about global warning. Keeps information updated on class wiki. Biographical sketch about the politician interviewed. Storybird.com
Katy - Impact of historical events on people. Answer question and post to website. Will visit nursing home. Major historical event and interview a person and how it affected them. Students will create videos and audio presentation. Will post to class site along with their reflection.
Jeff - How people affect the environment around them. Teaching students about wildlife and their environment. Post to blog their experiences about cleaning up.
Megan - Research presidential elections - voter turnout, trends, who voted, information dispersed, how government has affected lives, students will visit a retirement home. Students will interview old people and discover why trends occurred. Class will make a podcast of their research and interviews. Mini history oral project. Writing aspect along with a thank you note.
Brittany - Survey voting turnout. Attempting to get young people to vote. Typically they don't vote with as much fervor as old people. Work in groups to compile questions. Make a survey using survey monkey.
Questions must be well crafted. Make posters to get out the vote. Students would present to the class using whatever medium they wanted. Assess whether or not students understand what is being done.
Nicole - voting and campaigning - becoming a responsible citizen. Young people don't vote nor do a lot of demographic groups that are not aware. Students will try to raise awareness by running their own election. Using a google motion chart to monitor trends, make a podcast, create their own polling questions.
Angie - Students learning about their individual rights. Will create a website. Students will select a topic pertaining to individual rights. Small groups dependent on how many students you have participating. Each group would have a section of the wiki. Organize a get it right fair that would take place during a school day. Students will create an interactive display on their topic. Speakers come in to talk or communicate issues and concerns. At the end, visitors would vote on their favorite display.
Ali - Muslim American. Students research media for information on Muslim Americans. Will include reading trade book 14 yr girl living in America during 9/11. Interviewing people for perspectives on the Patriot Act. Gain more knowledge, correlate with Japanese-Americans during WWII. Spreading news about the needs of immigrants. Create wikis about the Patriot Act, using their interviews and information acquired to spread the knowledge.
Carrie - Oral History - choose a family member or landmark that was built as representation of the Cold War. Students would take a digital or video camera and create an article. Articles will be uploaded to a wiki. Bring in history of local community. Invite other classrooms and communities to be involved in the wiki. Expand knowledge of community during the Cold War. A whole wiki of the communities history.
Gigi - Study the geography of Haiti, would network with another student from Haiti. Most likely it would be a private school that has access to Internet. Students would use a wiki and allow them to learn about cultural values and whatnot. Students would have a class website of what they learned, using podcasts and videos. Final project would be to introduce it to the entire school. Students would collect funds/supplies to send to the students.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Service Learning Plan
1. Cultural Perspectives
2. At-Risk Youth
3. Grade Level/Setting: 9-12
4. Subject: World History
5. Unit Description:
Background
This service learning plan will complement student study of Japan before, during, and after World War II. Students will focus on Japanese perspective in the chain of events which lead Japan to imperialism and entry into World War II. Special attention will be paid to the Sino-Japanese conflict, the American-Japanese conflict with special attention paid to Pearl Harbor and Japanese surrender.
Project
How:
Through an Assistant Language Teacher and a Social Science counterpart in Japan an exchange will be created through which at-risk students exchange letters with Japanese students of an appropriate age. It will give students the opportunity to expand their cultural horizons. Students, Japanese and American, will be given the chance to eliminate stereotypes based upon sometimes faulty information. Additionally students will be able to improve their letter writing skills, as their will be an especially strong emphasis on proper grammar and punctuation due to English not being the Japanese students’ native language. The exchange of letters would occur at the beginning of the semester, giving students plenty of time to become familiar with one another and firmly establish a rapport.
Why:
Students will exchange letters with in an effort to expand their knowledge about Japanese Imperialism and World War II from a modern Japanese perspective. Students will be able to learn about how bias affects perspective. The questions the students should address are:
1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism and World War II in school?
2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?
3. Why does it differ?
Japanese students would be fully prepared for the material through instructions from the ALT. In addition, students might be able to get first-hand accounts from Japanese survivors. Due to the sensitive nature, students will be urged to exercise discretion. Students will need to learn about cultural taboos in order to navigate such a deeply affecting subject.
6. NETS:
Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
7. Sunshine State Standards:
SS.912.W.1.3: Interpret primary and secondary sources.
SS.912.W.1.5: Compare conflicting interpretations or schools of thought about world events and individual contributions to history (historiography).
SS.912.W.6.6: Analyze the causes and effects of imperialism.
SS.912.W.7.11: Describe the effects of World War II.
8. Technologies:
Webpage showcasing cooperation with Japanese school
Wiki pooling information gained from Japanese students about Japanese Imperialism and World War II.
Potentially email if students decide to exchange addresses with Japanese students in order to facilitate the transfer of information.
9. Assessment:
Inquiry Search Paper(40%)
Students will use the information gained in class and through their communication with Japanese students to write a paper addressing the following questions.
1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism in the early part of the century and World War II in school?
2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?
3. Why does it differ? Talk about the bias present.
4. What stereotypes did students have about Japan?
5. Were they changed?
6. What did they learn about Japanese culture and life that they did not know previously?
b. Participation (60%)
Willingness to exchange letters.
Contributions to Wiki.
Contributions to webpage.
Land of the Rising Sun
2. At-Risk Youth
3. Grade Level/Setting: 9-12
4. Subject: World History
5. Unit Description:
This service learning plan will complement student study of Japan before, during, and after World War II. Students will focus on Japanese perspective in the chain of events which lead Japan to imperialism and entry into World War II. Special attention will be paid to the Sino-Japanese conflict, the American-Japanese conflict with special attention paid to Pearl Harbor and Japanese surrender.
How:
Through an Assistant Language Teacher and a Social Science counterpart in Japan an exchange will be created through which at-risk students exchange letters with Japanese students of an appropriate age. It will give students the opportunity to expand their cultural horizons. Students, Japanese and American, will be given the chance to eliminate stereotypes based upon sometimes faulty information. Additionally students will be able to improve their letter writing skills, as their will be an especially strong emphasis on proper grammar and punctuation due to English not being the Japanese students’ native language. The exchange of letters would occur at the beginning of the semester, giving students plenty of time to become familiar with one another and firmly establish a rapport.
Why:
Students will exchange letters with in an effort to expand their knowledge about Japanese Imperialism and World War II from a modern Japanese perspective. Students will be able to learn about how bias affects perspective. The questions the students should address are:
1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism and World War II in school?
2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?
3. Why does it differ?
Japanese students would be fully prepared for the material through instructions from the ALT. In addition, students might be able to get first-hand accounts from Japanese survivors. Due to the sensitive nature, students will be urged to exercise discretion. Students will need to learn about cultural taboos in order to navigate such a deeply affecting subject.
6. NETS:
Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
7. Sunshine State Standards:
SS.912.W.1.3: Interpret primary and secondary sources.
SS.912.W.1.5: Compare conflicting interpretations or schools of thought about world events and individual contributions to history (historiography).
SS.912.W.6.6: Analyze the causes and effects of imperialism.
SS.912.W.7.11: Describe the effects of World War II.
8. Technologies:
Webpage showcasing cooperation with Japanese school
Wiki pooling information gained from Japanese students about Japanese Imperialism and World War II.
Potentially email if students decide to exchange addresses with Japanese students in order to facilitate the transfer of information.
9. Assessment:
Inquiry Search Paper(40%)
Students will use the information gained in class and through their communication with Japanese students to write a paper addressing the following questions.
1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism in the early part of the century and World War II in school?
2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?
3. Why does it differ? Talk about the bias present.
4. What stereotypes did students have about Japan?
5. Were they changed?
6. What did they learn about Japanese culture and life that they did not know previously?
b. Participation (60%)
Willingness to exchange letters.
Contributions to Wiki.
Contributions to webpage.
Land of the Rising Sun
Friday, October 16, 2009
Clay Shirky’s talk was enlightening in the ways media is being used today. Through the Internet the world is becoming much smaller. It is allowing people to connect and become global Samaritans, as evidenced by the devastation and subsequent assistance provided in the wake of the earthquake in China. Although, not mentioned in Shirky’s talk it was further evidenced by the use of Twitter to publicize the results of the Iranian election and the move to squash the election. In this age of online communication, censorship is much harder to achieve. Living in close proximity as I did, I was fairly aware of the “Great Firewall of China” although I didn’t know it was referred to as such. It is still surprising to me that they can successfully repress the public in such a widespread manner.
We have to make the case that if this technology was available in the past, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that the government would also have the technology to suppress? You have to give tit for tat. If the public has the tech to communicate atrocities, then it should stand to reason that the government has the tech to suppress the communication. Although, it is probably likely that something would get through no matter what the government tries to do.
What if when Columbus came to America and began what would essentially be an age of conquest and subjugation for the Native Americans, what if they had access to the Internet or Twitter? First off, those initial tribes would probably start tweeting about this strange new sickness that seemed to arrive with the white man. It might make subsequent tribes a little less likely to approach Columbus and his crew with open arms. Heck, the Native Americans could almost use the smallpox as an early warning system for the arrival of the white man. It would quickly become apparent that death and destruction followed in the wake of the white man. It might have still resulted in the Incan civil war, but it might have made Atahualpa much less likely to greet Pizarro with open arms. In fact, it might result in a shoot first; ask questions later kind of policy by the Native Americans.
What could the conquistadors have done in counter? I’m not sure there is anything they could have done, by the time they figured out that the word was out there that they came to conquer it would probably be too late. What would be the ramifications? Well, to start I think the conquest of America might have taken much longer than it did. If all the Native Americans knew that some bad people were on their way, they would probably attempt to take appropriate measures. It’d probably make American history slightly different.
Do you think if Native Americans had access to online resources that the conquest of North & South America would have been quite so successful?
We have to make the case that if this technology was available in the past, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that the government would also have the technology to suppress? You have to give tit for tat. If the public has the tech to communicate atrocities, then it should stand to reason that the government has the tech to suppress the communication. Although, it is probably likely that something would get through no matter what the government tries to do.
What if when Columbus came to America and began what would essentially be an age of conquest and subjugation for the Native Americans, what if they had access to the Internet or Twitter? First off, those initial tribes would probably start tweeting about this strange new sickness that seemed to arrive with the white man. It might make subsequent tribes a little less likely to approach Columbus and his crew with open arms. Heck, the Native Americans could almost use the smallpox as an early warning system for the arrival of the white man. It would quickly become apparent that death and destruction followed in the wake of the white man. It might have still resulted in the Incan civil war, but it might have made Atahualpa much less likely to greet Pizarro with open arms. In fact, it might result in a shoot first; ask questions later kind of policy by the Native Americans.
What could the conquistadors have done in counter? I’m not sure there is anything they could have done, by the time they figured out that the word was out there that they came to conquer it would probably be too late. What would be the ramifications? Well, to start I think the conquest of America might have taken much longer than it did. If all the Native Americans knew that some bad people were on their way, they would probably attempt to take appropriate measures. It’d probably make American history slightly different.
Do you think if Native Americans had access to online resources that the conquest of North & South America would have been quite so successful?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Whatever (you think) . . .
The evolution of the word “Whatever” reinforces this idea of narcissism that is so prevalent in today’s kids. I liked his example using the book “Generation Me” about how kids all want to be the next American Idol because it is seemingly the only way they feel they can have a voice to be heard and are disappointed when they fail. It leads nicely into his discussion of Youtube as a social medium. I believe the reason social frameworks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger are so successful is due to the anonymity it offers to people. It is true that on networks such as Twitter you have to communicate what you’re feeling in 140 characters or less, leading to this sort of truncated communication and more l33t speak, although l33t speak was already prevalent due to other mediums (i.e. online RPGs, video games). Actually you might make the argument that online RPGs and video games were the first forms of this new society that allow people to communicate anonymously. Video games allowed people to create this alter ego who was the person you wanted to be. Honestly, perhaps online social networking applications wouldn’t have succeeded as well as they do now because this is a “gamer” generation. More kids today spend time playing video games than ever before; realistically you know that is because they didn’t have the technology back in the day. The point is it is video games that have made it possible for online networking applications to succeed like they have. Companies capitalized on the fact that people want to create the better “me” they can be.
Back to the point at hand, social frameworks take away this feeling of self-consciousness that you experience in face-to-face interactions. It is true that you are not communicating with a real person “in the moment” but people must realize that there is a real person out there who is going to read, watch, see whatever you create. If people didn’t, then there wouldn’t be this push to monitor kids’ online behavior. Perhaps there is more anonymity on Youtube because you are reaching a much larger audience. Applications like Livejournal, Facebook, and Twitter are slightly different though, for me anyway, as I have met the majority, if not all the people on my personal accounts. It makes me wonder if I use it differently than other people. I know when I fill in those 140 characters on Twitter or update my status on Facebook that people I talk to on the phone or see everyday are going to read those words. Blogging on Livejournal is slightly different because we use it among our friends to share stories with all our friends, some of whom might not be local, so someone who doesn’t have a journal misses out on stories because they have already been told via LJ. I think it also comes from the fact though that people sometimes communicate stories better on paper, or in this case the computer, than in person.
I can even say that after a while of playing MMORPG people do get to know each other eventually. So, initially, it might be about being someone else, but once you feel comfortable that a person isn’t going to run screaming at the sight of you, you tend to reveal more of yourself. So, based what I know of myself, has social networking changed to me? Not really. I was pretty aware of what it was going into the game, since I’ve been “online” for about ten years. To me, it has just become easier and more streamlined, not to mention prettier to look at.
As for its use in education, I think in order for kids to succeed into today’s digital world, it is a must have in the classroom. It makes communication so much easier, especially when you using apps like Ning, Moodle, or Twitter. It makes me excited to think about how to implement these applications in the classroom.
Do you use Twitter, Facebook, or other apps of that nature with the idea that you experience a type of anonymity allowing you more freedom in what you can say or do? Are you like Batman or Superman, do you have an alter ego online?
Back to the point at hand, social frameworks take away this feeling of self-consciousness that you experience in face-to-face interactions. It is true that you are not communicating with a real person “in the moment” but people must realize that there is a real person out there who is going to read, watch, see whatever you create. If people didn’t, then there wouldn’t be this push to monitor kids’ online behavior. Perhaps there is more anonymity on Youtube because you are reaching a much larger audience. Applications like Livejournal, Facebook, and Twitter are slightly different though, for me anyway, as I have met the majority, if not all the people on my personal accounts. It makes me wonder if I use it differently than other people. I know when I fill in those 140 characters on Twitter or update my status on Facebook that people I talk to on the phone or see everyday are going to read those words. Blogging on Livejournal is slightly different because we use it among our friends to share stories with all our friends, some of whom might not be local, so someone who doesn’t have a journal misses out on stories because they have already been told via LJ. I think it also comes from the fact though that people sometimes communicate stories better on paper, or in this case the computer, than in person.
I can even say that after a while of playing MMORPG people do get to know each other eventually. So, initially, it might be about being someone else, but once you feel comfortable that a person isn’t going to run screaming at the sight of you, you tend to reveal more of yourself. So, based what I know of myself, has social networking changed to me? Not really. I was pretty aware of what it was going into the game, since I’ve been “online” for about ten years. To me, it has just become easier and more streamlined, not to mention prettier to look at.
As for its use in education, I think in order for kids to succeed into today’s digital world, it is a must have in the classroom. It makes communication so much easier, especially when you using apps like Ning, Moodle, or Twitter. It makes me excited to think about how to implement these applications in the classroom.
Do you use Twitter, Facebook, or other apps of that nature with the idea that you experience a type of anonymity allowing you more freedom in what you can say or do? Are you like Batman or Superman, do you have an alter ego online?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Vietnam War
In light of the recent conflicts occurring in the Middle East, I decided to focus on a conflict that often does not get covered in history classes for lack of time. It was something of a black mark when it did occur and at the time people did not want to acknowledge it because it seemed like a loss for the United States. In more recent times, perhaps because it is not so recent it has become less controversial. The Vietnam Conflict happened during the 60s when peace, love, and happiness seemed to be the bywords of the day.
To that end, my iTunes U mix is a series of broadcasts dealing with how the four presidents dealt with the Vietnam War. To this I add the Wikipedia entry for two reasons: 1) so students can get a synopsis of the war and 2) for the references and sources cited at the end of the entry. In addition to this I added the The Vietnam Center and Archive. Its mission “. . . is to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia.” To this end it includes oral histories, teaching tools, and best of all . . . the Virtual Vietnam Archive. The Archive includes over 2.7 million pages of scanned documents, pictures, artifacts, moving images, sound clips, etc. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on this website, you can probably find out where you need to go. The most interesting aspect of this website is the oral histories from the veterans. It is such a personal story that these veterans tell, not only the hardship of the war itself, but the readjustment that occurs when coming home. Plus, I’m a big fan of primary sources. The last website I added is the Battlefield: Vietnam. It is through PBS and includes information on the war, fighting tactics, notable battles and online resources.
Using these several websites and the iTunes U mix together, students should be able to find out the allies, the enemies, and the results. Students can ask the question, should we have been there in the first place? For some students it might even be more personal if they had a parent or family member who served in Vietnam.
One great way to utilize the material would be to write an inquiry search paper. Instead of regurgitating information as you would in a typical research paper, students could use all these great primary sources and write about the Vietnam War with a new perspective. In order to thoroughly process the information in the primary sources it might be necessary to use document analysis' to determine audience, tone, etc. which can be found at National Archives website. Another great way to utilize the information would be as supporting materials for a debate, in which you try to answer the question: Should we have been in Vietnam or not?
To that end, my iTunes U mix is a series of broadcasts dealing with how the four presidents dealt with the Vietnam War. To this I add the Wikipedia entry for two reasons: 1) so students can get a synopsis of the war and 2) for the references and sources cited at the end of the entry. In addition to this I added the The Vietnam Center and Archive. Its mission “. . . is to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia.” To this end it includes oral histories, teaching tools, and best of all . . . the Virtual Vietnam Archive. The Archive includes over 2.7 million pages of scanned documents, pictures, artifacts, moving images, sound clips, etc. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on this website, you can probably find out where you need to go. The most interesting aspect of this website is the oral histories from the veterans. It is such a personal story that these veterans tell, not only the hardship of the war itself, but the readjustment that occurs when coming home. Plus, I’m a big fan of primary sources. The last website I added is the Battlefield: Vietnam. It is through PBS and includes information on the war, fighting tactics, notable battles and online resources.
Using these several websites and the iTunes U mix together, students should be able to find out the allies, the enemies, and the results. Students can ask the question, should we have been there in the first place? For some students it might even be more personal if they had a parent or family member who served in Vietnam.
One great way to utilize the material would be to write an inquiry search paper. Instead of regurgitating information as you would in a typical research paper, students could use all these great primary sources and write about the Vietnam War with a new perspective. In order to thoroughly process the information in the primary sources it might be necessary to use document analysis' to determine audience, tone, etc. which can be found at National Archives website. Another great way to utilize the information would be as supporting materials for a debate, in which you try to answer the question: Should we have been in Vietnam or not?
Friday, September 25, 2009
Veterans and their contributions
As someone who grew up surrounded by the military, not only are both my parents Army veterans, my father served both in Vietnam and Desert Storm. Not to mention it has been on my mind lately, I decided to focus my attention a service learning plan focusing on veterans of foreign wars.
Brief Description:
Eighth grade students interviewed veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War as part of an interdisciplinary unit in social studies and English language arts. The veterans' contributions and insights made the curriculum more meaningful, real, and relevant to the students' lives. Through the veterans' first-hand knowledge and experiences, students learned valuable lessons about humanity, patriotism, and sacrifice not provided by textbooks.
Veterans
In looking at this service plan, it is a well-thought out interdisciplinary plan utilizing both English and Social Science. Not only does it address the many aspects of inquiry in social science, it gives students a new appreciation for the service that veterans have done. It allows students the opportunity to interview Veterans, giving them access to primary sources rich in information. It also offers students a unique perspective on war, bravery, and patriotism. The veterans can really emphasize how war is not like what students watch at the movies. Learning about war through a first person perspective and some of the long term effects, such as life altering disabilities, students can have their perspective’s drastically changed.
The combination of interviewing, compiling, relating, and creating all work to make for an in-depth experiment in social science. The students honed their research skills by interviewing the Veterans, learning to formulate questions that gained the information needed. At the end the students extrapolated the data they needed to get a real world picture of what the Veterans faced and how the ramifications of which affect them today. It gave them insight into the Veterans’ psyche and an idea of what bravery and patriotism really looked like. In the end the students worked together to create a quilt representing both the students and the Veterans’ accomplishments. This is one part of the service learning plan. The English portion also involved reading relevant literature and relating it back to what the soldiers might have experienced. Creating their own personal works to communicate what they felt about their experiences with the Veterans. It resulted in a long term relationship between the school and the Veterans. Not only did one class benefit, but future classes as well.
Several challenges that I could see, would possibly be not enough students to interview the volunteering Veterans and perhaps the students’ reticence in interviewing Veterans. I think students would hesitate only because they wouldn’t know how to react to the Veterans. The plan mentions they overcame the problem with the Veterans’ by creating a panel for those Veterans’ not interviewed to evaluate and observe the students. It might have further helped with the students’ reticence if perhaps two students interviewed each student. It has been my experience that students usually feel braver when they have a partner. Overall, the plan is really well thought out and could potentially be someth
Brief Description:
Eighth grade students interviewed veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War as part of an interdisciplinary unit in social studies and English language arts. The veterans' contributions and insights made the curriculum more meaningful, real, and relevant to the students' lives. Through the veterans' first-hand knowledge and experiences, students learned valuable lessons about humanity, patriotism, and sacrifice not provided by textbooks.
Veterans
In looking at this service plan, it is a well-thought out interdisciplinary plan utilizing both English and Social Science. Not only does it address the many aspects of inquiry in social science, it gives students a new appreciation for the service that veterans have done. It allows students the opportunity to interview Veterans, giving them access to primary sources rich in information. It also offers students a unique perspective on war, bravery, and patriotism. The veterans can really emphasize how war is not like what students watch at the movies. Learning about war through a first person perspective and some of the long term effects, such as life altering disabilities, students can have their perspective’s drastically changed.
The combination of interviewing, compiling, relating, and creating all work to make for an in-depth experiment in social science. The students honed their research skills by interviewing the Veterans, learning to formulate questions that gained the information needed. At the end the students extrapolated the data they needed to get a real world picture of what the Veterans faced and how the ramifications of which affect them today. It gave them insight into the Veterans’ psyche and an idea of what bravery and patriotism really looked like. In the end the students worked together to create a quilt representing both the students and the Veterans’ accomplishments. This is one part of the service learning plan. The English portion also involved reading relevant literature and relating it back to what the soldiers might have experienced. Creating their own personal works to communicate what they felt about their experiences with the Veterans. It resulted in a long term relationship between the school and the Veterans. Not only did one class benefit, but future classes as well.
Several challenges that I could see, would possibly be not enough students to interview the volunteering Veterans and perhaps the students’ reticence in interviewing Veterans. I think students would hesitate only because they wouldn’t know how to react to the Veterans. The plan mentions they overcame the problem with the Veterans’ by creating a panel for those Veterans’ not interviewed to evaluate and observe the students. It might have further helped with the students’ reticence if perhaps two students interviewed each student. It has been my experience that students usually feel braver when they have a partner. Overall, the plan is really well thought out and could potentially be someth
Saturday, September 12, 2009
GIS in today's world
Back in 2000 I worked in the Supervisor of Elections office. It being the beginning of a new century we were about to undergo the census. What this meant for us is that voter districts would be rezoned based on the new numbers provided. I was interested because of my interest in technology, but we were pretty busy because it was a huge election year. We were excited because we going to be using this new software call GIS. At the time I had a vague idea of what that meant. My friend was thrilled though because as a geography major it might new and exciting things for her field. Come to 2009 and the software is being discussed for use in the secondary classroom.
In “Teaching with rather than about Geographic Information Systems,” Hammond and Bodzin are examining ways for this software to successfully be used in the classroom. In order to grasp some of the more technical aspects of the program I was required to do a bit of additional research, in addition to reading the full article. Not only did it help me grasp the full scale of what the software is capable of but it gave me a good idea of how it could be used in the classroom. It also helped me differentiate between GIS and programs such as Google Earth. It becomes readily apparent upon reading the article that one of the biggest obstacles to successfully implementing the software is the user. The software is highly technical and does require some in-depth instruction in its use. Although simple steps such as changing file names to easily identifiable ones can be the first step in making the software easier to use (Hammond, T., Bodzin, A., 2009). Ultimately it will be necessary to teach about the program so that it can be successfully integrated into the classroom.
Not only does it give you more control over maps and geographical tools. You can deconstruct maps layer by layer, which could be useful in a geography or a geology class. It allows you to see how the geography of a city developed, but you don’t have to limit it to this function. You can use Google Earth in conjunction with this software. The lack of familiar landmarks sometimes makes it difficult to students, using it with Google Earth you can do an overlay so that students can see those familiar landmarks as well as the relevant information provided by GIS.
For instance, in a unit about the Silk Road you can use GIS to map the Silk Road. Students would be able to learn that the name is deceptive and that the Road was more a route containing many paths. You would be able to examine the branches of the road and the difficult terrain that traders had to endure.
I liked the idea of mapping the Black Death pandemic, but once again proving that everything has already been done before, I found a lesson plan which utilizes GIS. It seems like an excellent idea, I would expand on this plan. Rather than limiting it to Britain, I would examine how it affected all of Europe. You could integrate it into a lesson about how the Black Death affected the economy, culture, and population. Discuss the anti-Semitic feeling that was prevalent at the time. Depending on what is being studied in science at the time, you could include the history of the disease. It would be a content spanning lesson.
Other ideas include having students map the Trail of Tears, the forced march by Native American tribes in the Southeast.
Students could map the Seminole War, pinpointing significant encounters and population groups. The questions to ask would be: How did the Seminoles evade American forces for so long? At what point could have American forces gained the advantage in battle?
My lack of knowledge in regards to the software at this point would make it difficult to plan an in-depth lesson plan because I’m only marginally aware of what it is capable of, but look forward to exploring it more. I downloaded several articles to read, hopefully they will provide me with more ideas.
The question to ask would be what difficulties do you think you would have in using and integrating this software into the classroom?
Hammond TC, Bodzin AM. (2009) Teaching with rather than about geographic information systems. Social Education, 73(3), online article
In “Teaching with rather than about Geographic Information Systems,” Hammond and Bodzin are examining ways for this software to successfully be used in the classroom. In order to grasp some of the more technical aspects of the program I was required to do a bit of additional research, in addition to reading the full article. Not only did it help me grasp the full scale of what the software is capable of but it gave me a good idea of how it could be used in the classroom. It also helped me differentiate between GIS and programs such as Google Earth. It becomes readily apparent upon reading the article that one of the biggest obstacles to successfully implementing the software is the user. The software is highly technical and does require some in-depth instruction in its use. Although simple steps such as changing file names to easily identifiable ones can be the first step in making the software easier to use (Hammond, T., Bodzin, A., 2009). Ultimately it will be necessary to teach about the program so that it can be successfully integrated into the classroom.
Not only does it give you more control over maps and geographical tools. You can deconstruct maps layer by layer, which could be useful in a geography or a geology class. It allows you to see how the geography of a city developed, but you don’t have to limit it to this function. You can use Google Earth in conjunction with this software. The lack of familiar landmarks sometimes makes it difficult to students, using it with Google Earth you can do an overlay so that students can see those familiar landmarks as well as the relevant information provided by GIS.
For instance, in a unit about the Silk Road you can use GIS to map the Silk Road. Students would be able to learn that the name is deceptive and that the Road was more a route containing many paths. You would be able to examine the branches of the road and the difficult terrain that traders had to endure.
I liked the idea of mapping the Black Death pandemic, but once again proving that everything has already been done before, I found a lesson plan which utilizes GIS. It seems like an excellent idea, I would expand on this plan. Rather than limiting it to Britain, I would examine how it affected all of Europe. You could integrate it into a lesson about how the Black Death affected the economy, culture, and population. Discuss the anti-Semitic feeling that was prevalent at the time. Depending on what is being studied in science at the time, you could include the history of the disease. It would be a content spanning lesson.
Other ideas include having students map the Trail of Tears, the forced march by Native American tribes in the Southeast.
Students could map the Seminole War, pinpointing significant encounters and population groups. The questions to ask would be: How did the Seminoles evade American forces for so long? At what point could have American forces gained the advantage in battle?
My lack of knowledge in regards to the software at this point would make it difficult to plan an in-depth lesson plan because I’m only marginally aware of what it is capable of, but look forward to exploring it more. I downloaded several articles to read, hopefully they will provide me with more ideas.
The question to ask would be what difficulties do you think you would have in using and integrating this software into the classroom?
Hammond TC, Bodzin AM. (2009) Teaching with rather than about geographic information systems. Social Education, 73(3), online article
Ruminating
Don't mind the verbal chaos about to ensue. I have to mention I like the feature of being able to make text cuts, so as not to spew over everyone's screen. Anyway, not relevant. I wanted to answer the question: What is education to me? If I had to take a stab in the dark and without any academic support. Like I said, for me. Anys, I would say education is most decidedly not about getting students prepared for the work force. It makes it sound like our job is indoctrination. Make sure they're willing to do what they are told and never question. I think it is more about making global leaders, people who are knowledgeable and well-spoken. People who are capable of critical thinking and making a well-formed argument. Students need to know that while we are a powerful country, we are not the only country. I know history is often told from a national bias, but I think it is important to show other points of view as well. I don't want students to unquestioningly accept everything America does as gospel. I mean aren't we meant to question the government, so as to keep everything in check?
Okay, so that was much shorter than I expected. What do you think?
Okay, so that was much shorter than I expected. What do you think?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Pods, Blogs, and Wikis . . . Oh My!
When I first read about this assignment, I wasn’t exactly sure where to begin. I had never heard of a wiki before this class, which is surprising considering my usage of Wikipedia. As for podcasts, well, I’ve downloaded them several times, but my backlog became so great that I would usually just throw my hands in the air in frustration and delete them from my iPod. It happens pretty much like clockwork. I succumb to what sounds like a potentially interesting podcast, download all the episodes, get behind in listening, then delete them all promising never to do it again. I will admit that during the course of this assignment I found some potentially interesting podcasts and downloaded all the episodes. Hopefully I can stop the cycle of futility here. Blogging was the easy part. Of course, finding relevant blogs might prove challenging.
In the end I think I may have gotten a little carried away. Let’s start with the blogs. I found several blogs that were written by social science instructors. The reason for my interest in them is varied. For one they blog about their experiences in the classroom, relevant social science topics, and they are technology focused, which I thought was especially relevant for this class. I know it can be disheartening to hear about bad classroom experiences, but if we’re honest we know that it isn’t all roses nowadays. Here are 3 of the many I discovered . . .
The Tech-Savvy Teacher
It is written by two teachers, a social science and a science teacher, who are interested in sharing ways to use technology in the classroom. You can also follow them on Twitter @techsavvyteach. I will admit this blog focuses more on technology. It does discuss the pros and cons of using tech in the classroom and provides classroom solutions when using technology.
The Henricus
I liked this blog because as the subtitle indicates it provides "New Approaches to Teaching Social Studies." It provides interesting topics for discussion relevant to the social science teacher. For instance, can history be taught thematically? Not to mention the loads of other links it provided to social science related blogs. I'm sure you're not surprised but they can be followed on Twitter @TechWarrior.
2¢ Worth
He talks a lot about education, not just social science. Not entirely sure that makes it relevant to the assignment, but I'm including it anyway. He also does a podcast. Okay enough with the blogs. I found a dozen more besides, but I'll tag them on my my delicious account.
Next we have podcasts, I managed to restrain myself to 2. The first is the 60 Second Civics. It provides you with a daily dose of civics lesson in a compact lesson of 60 seconds. Exactly what is advertised by the title. I liked it because sometimes I find civics extremely boring because it can be very dry at times. 60 seconds would probably be just the right amount. I'm sure it would be very useful for highschool students who feel the same way as I do. You can easily subscribe via iTunes, not to mention follow them on, you guessed it @60SecondCivics. The second is Stuff You Missed in History Class. My reasons for liking this is because I've always been a fan of the untold stories in history. Paul Harvey-esque type stories as it were. It also reminded me of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen which I really liked.
Next are the wikis, again I found two. The first wiki is a student created wiki about Asian history. For those not in the know, I'm a huge fan of Asian history and I was interested in seeing how this one developed as it is a work in progress at the moment. Shanghai American School Asian History Wiki is being updated by 9th graders from within China. The second wiki is Classroom Google Earth. I chose this one because of my software project which is, coincidentally, Google Earth and its many uses.
As I said I may have gotten carried away. Nonetheless it has given me lots of reading material.
In the end I think I may have gotten a little carried away. Let’s start with the blogs. I found several blogs that were written by social science instructors. The reason for my interest in them is varied. For one they blog about their experiences in the classroom, relevant social science topics, and they are technology focused, which I thought was especially relevant for this class. I know it can be disheartening to hear about bad classroom experiences, but if we’re honest we know that it isn’t all roses nowadays. Here are 3 of the many I discovered . . .
The Tech-Savvy Teacher
It is written by two teachers, a social science and a science teacher, who are interested in sharing ways to use technology in the classroom. You can also follow them on Twitter @techsavvyteach. I will admit this blog focuses more on technology. It does discuss the pros and cons of using tech in the classroom and provides classroom solutions when using technology.
The Henricus
I liked this blog because as the subtitle indicates it provides "New Approaches to Teaching Social Studies." It provides interesting topics for discussion relevant to the social science teacher. For instance, can history be taught thematically? Not to mention the loads of other links it provided to social science related blogs. I'm sure you're not surprised but they can be followed on Twitter @TechWarrior.
2¢ Worth
He talks a lot about education, not just social science. Not entirely sure that makes it relevant to the assignment, but I'm including it anyway. He also does a podcast. Okay enough with the blogs. I found a dozen more besides, but I'll tag them on my my delicious account.
Next we have podcasts, I managed to restrain myself to 2. The first is the 60 Second Civics. It provides you with a daily dose of civics lesson in a compact lesson of 60 seconds. Exactly what is advertised by the title. I liked it because sometimes I find civics extremely boring because it can be very dry at times. 60 seconds would probably be just the right amount. I'm sure it would be very useful for highschool students who feel the same way as I do. You can easily subscribe via iTunes, not to mention follow them on, you guessed it @60SecondCivics. The second is Stuff You Missed in History Class. My reasons for liking this is because I've always been a fan of the untold stories in history. Paul Harvey-esque type stories as it were. It also reminded me of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen which I really liked.
Next are the wikis, again I found two. The first wiki is a student created wiki about Asian history. For those not in the know, I'm a huge fan of Asian history and I was interested in seeing how this one developed as it is a work in progress at the moment. Shanghai American School Asian History Wiki is being updated by 9th graders from within China. The second wiki is Classroom Google Earth. I chose this one because of my software project which is, coincidentally, Google Earth and its many uses.
As I said I may have gotten carried away. Nonetheless it has given me lots of reading material.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Social Media Is Bigger than You Think
Similar to the "Did you know, shift happens," but just as interesting.
Facts can be found at http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/
Facts can be found at http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Treading those Technological Waters
Why should technology be integrated into social studies classrooms? How has the learning from our first session influenced your answer? Please support.
It has been 10 years since I completed my undergraduate work at the University of Florida. During my time here there was not a push like now to have technology in the classrooms. It was becoming the norm for engineering students to be required to have laptops, but that was a far cry from the rest of the campus. Now it is almost mandatory that all students have access to a laptop. I can’t say the change isn’t welcome because in this society of ever growing reliance on the Internet for news and information it is almost a necessity. So, when I discovered that I was going to be taking EME5432, I have to admit that I had preconceptions. I was expecting more instruction on creating lesson plans that would incorporate technology into the classroom as I have encountered in my other classes. I wasn’t overly dismayed by the idea, as I am a huge advocate of technology in all its forms. I’m glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in more of a “media literacy” class. I like to consider myself somewhat technology literate, but the video “Did you know, shift happens” had some interesting facts. Examples just to give a few:
If MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth largest country in the world
and
Today, the number of text messages sent and received every day, exceeds the total population of the planet.
Can I say I’m completely surprised? Not really. I saw how quickly Twitter caught. One day I knew nothing about it, a week later it seemed like I was seeing it everywhere. How can we expect students “. . . to disengage from this interpersonal, producer-oriented, digital world” (http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/medialiteracy)? The Kaiser Family Foundation national study on media asserts, “Without question, this generation truly is the media generation devoting more than a quarter of each day to media” (Rideout, Roberts & Foehr, 2005, p. 39). It is imperative that we as secondary education teachers give students the tools they need to navigate the Internet confidently, but while utilizing caution as well. It is important that students realize not all sources of information on the Internet can be trusted. Even Wikipedia should be used with some caution, although it can offer links to excellent, trusted resources. In addition there has been a push by Wikipedia to become more legitimate, it “. . . has decided to screen edits to encyclopedia entries about living people . . .” (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/wikipedia-will-limit-changes-on-articles-about-living-people-ny-times/).
As teachers, how do we go about this task? As November states in Web Literacy for Educators we need to teach students how to interpret URLs and how to break them down. Once we accomplish the hefty task of teaching students how to navigate the Internet, we will have access to one of the largest, if not the largest, information sources on the planet. The question was how can we incorporate technology into the classroom, the answer is how can we not? We would put our students at a grave disadvantage by not availing ourselves of this resource. A plethora of information and programs are available to teachers on the Internet, it is just a matter of utilizing them properly and instructing students likewise. Just a few examples are teachers utilizing programs, such as Google Earth to map the progress of human civilization or the ability to go back in time and explore Rome as it existed in 320 AD (http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html) or using Twitter to keep students updated on class activities. Teachers can help give students a louder voice in the World by having them keeping a blog. Not only are you being technologically savvy, but you’re also being green by saving on paper. In addition to programs, teachers and students have access to hundreds of primary sources available on the Internet (i.e. http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/education/index.html or http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/) for document analysis and research purposes.
After all this, I must drop a note of caution. It is important to consider the legal ramifications of having your students participate in some of these activities. Teachers need to ensure that students have the necessary Internet access to keep things fair and even.
And on that note, I’m blogging the updated version of this video for my own bookkeeping purposes:
courtesy of http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Doesn't seem like you can cut your posts like in Livejournal. Due to the fact the none of the bookstores had any of my books I was forced to order them all from Amazon. I got two day shipping, but it doesn't seem like they will be coming in until sometime next week. What can you do?
Trying to compose my thoughts regarding the reading for RED5337. Fortunately, I have the PDF articles. It's something anyway.
The Kamil articles discusses reading and literacy among grades 4-12. The first thing I picked up on is the fact that the United States is behind even developing nations when it comes to reading. So, my first question of course is why? I mean is it a matter of methods or students? It seems likely that it is students. The next question is why are students in the United States so unmotivated to read? In these other countries does it really come down to parental pressure or is there more desire there to succeed? I would hope not, but who am I to say really? I know we mentioned in class how students are reading and creating these amazing worlds based on MMORPG, so perhaps it is just a matter of content.
The article says that educators support the methods, saying that they are proven, except there hasn't been any improvement in reading scores in 30 years or something? I mean that doesn't sound like the methods are working. Is lack of awareness really an excuse?
Trying to compose my thoughts regarding the reading for RED5337. Fortunately, I have the PDF articles. It's something anyway.
The Kamil articles discusses reading and literacy among grades 4-12. The first thing I picked up on is the fact that the United States is behind even developing nations when it comes to reading. So, my first question of course is why? I mean is it a matter of methods or students? It seems likely that it is students. The next question is why are students in the United States so unmotivated to read? In these other countries does it really come down to parental pressure or is there more desire there to succeed? I would hope not, but who am I to say really? I know we mentioned in class how students are reading and creating these amazing worlds based on MMORPG, so perhaps it is just a matter of content.
The article says that educators support the methods, saying that they are proven, except there hasn't been any improvement in reading scores in 30 years or something? I mean that doesn't sound like the methods are working. Is lack of awareness really an excuse?
Friday, August 28, 2009
So, I bought a netbook last night. It is amusing to me because only a few years ago I was all about getting a laptop. I actually told my friend that my laptop was too heavy to be carrying all over the place. How far I've come since my first PC. Next on my list of tech to acquire is an iPhone, but that won't be until January when I'm eligible for an upgrade. Stupid contract, making me wait.
It's a good thing my pocketbook doesn't support me acquiring every sort of tech out there. Although I do wish my pocketbook did support my living well, that would be nice.
Just a hello to the world in general, as this is my first post.
Ja ne!
It's a good thing my pocketbook doesn't support me acquiring every sort of tech out there. Although I do wish my pocketbook did support my living well, that would be nice.
Just a hello to the world in general, as this is my first post.
Ja ne!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
