Wikipedia: To use or not to use?

The first lesson and the demonstration on how to use iMovie was very helpful tonight. I own a Mac and never even opened the program so using it for this assignment I think is a fun new challenge. Seeing what I can create and see if what I make is similar to what is in my mind is going to be fun.  I plan on working on it this weekend and see how far I can get with it.Your 5 W’s for evaluating a web site will also help me in grading the websites the students use and the websites I will use with the children as well.

Another topic we brought up that I enjoyed discussing is the credible sources we need to teach our children to use in the classroom. We first need to know what material we will accept.  Making the comparison to the days we were in school and using magazines for materials and now Wikipedia was very eye opening. I never made that connection but it is try. This topic of correct sources to use has always been around. We just need to learn the new ways the students will implement in order to complete their projects.  I would have to agree that as long as they have other peer reviewed journals and cite their sources correctly, I wouldn’t mind them using Wikipedia.  Not an issue for this teacher. 

My storyboard topic will be on self-esteem. I want to use the book Stargirl by Jerry Speneli. It is a very good read and I hope the project I make does the book justice. 


Site:
Who: Stjohns.edu
What: web site for Saint John's University students and individuals who are seeking information on Saint John's. 
Where: www.stjohns.edu
Why: ...

Ch. 5 Internet as a Wonderland

Our discussion in class about student assessment mirrored much of what chapter 5 was about. Learning how to be a teacher that uses not only conventional methods such as worksheets and note taking, we also have to learn how to work online and use appropriate online material for them as well. The heading on the opening page “A Library of Unimaginable Size,” is what the Internet is. How we use it is up to us but what we can do with it can greatly assist our ability to teach.

Reading the chapter I have to admit that I still have a lot to learn in the area of evaluating source material and proper search engines to utilize for my classroom. Over the course of my college years I have used the same search engine, ProQuest, for all of my work. Where I lack, besides new sites to use, is the proper words to put into the search bar and different combinations to put them in for better results. I have to work on this and continue to work on this when I start teaching.  Teaching the student’s about scholarly material and peer reviewed journals can assist them with their searching but also expose them to well written material. The students need to learn the difference in speaking in the learning environment and with their friends.

Another issue the chapter brings up is plagiarism.  As long as the students know how to site their sources, they can avoid this problem. Teaching the students the proper way to site sources at the start of the semester can assure all the students know how to do this. Spending the first few classes demonstrating to the student’s how to site sources can assist them not only for your class but their academic career.

One tool I would like to utilize is the electronic note-taking site. I would like to work in a school that has their school information online so everyone can see what is going on.  I had one professor not allow us to take notes in class and only listen and partake in the lesson. He said that students cannot take notes and listen to everything at the same time and miss key points. If you take this small task out of the class and post the work online and focus on discussion and group work, the classroom can be more of a freeing place. I have not worked in a classroom yet, but would hope that I can work on this technique and have more of a discussion type of classroom and not just lectures. 

Class 4

Lessons Learned:

Today’s class discussion made me think more about formal and informal assessments and how I could use them in my class. The formal assessments of test taking and having students create projects are a valuable way to reach the children but what about informal assessments? I was taught a strategy by a professor of simply putting a thumb up to ask a student discretely if they are okay or if they are understanding a lesson. They can do this discretely and it can be a personal ting between the professor and student.

The topic for my video I am thinking about presenting is revolving around the short book Star Girl. The book has themes of individuality, and the awkwardness of being a child and how it is not revered as children but admired by adults. This ties into another class so it would be easy to continue from that small project to something like this. 

Blog 3. The Designer Teacher

Who are you designing for? 

You are designing a lot of things when you are a teacher. You are designing lesson plans that are relevant for the students and match the different learning levels that are in your classroom. You are putting into your lesson plan check points to make sure the students are able to follow your instruction. When designing your classroom or lesson plans you have to consider the students who are following your lessons, the parents who may have question and are curious where they can follow the material. As well as thinking of your common core standards who ask for different points to be implemented into your curriculum. 

What are you designing? 

I'm designing an atmosphere in my classroom. A place where students can be free to be inquisitive and not be ridiculed for it. I'm designing different lesson plans yearly and just using last years lesson plans as a guide line. The students change every year and I am not saying I will start from scratch every year, but I will add and tweak the lesson plans to the new crop of students I will be teaching. I do not want to over use technology in the class but I want to design lesson plans that evolves with the students and challenges them.  

What's the final product of your design?

The final product will be a building block for them to move forward. My area of concentration is English and I hope the children will walk away with the understanding that reading content is just as important as pictures. The students use visual aide so much now I fear that they will read for fun less and less. I hope that each year the students walk away with a healthy desire to want to be in school as much as I do. 

Reflection:

I liked the discussion of teachers being designers in both the traditional and none traditional sense. We model the mind of young adults and will touch a lot of lives. What I find is the new common core standards we will have to instruct will gives us a lot of freedom in how we present the material to the students and what we can use.  This allows for each of us to teach to our own abilities which will benefit the students. When you are allowed to design and present the lesson plan to your own strengths, the students benefit. I like how we are starting to think more outside the box and this will lead to richer classroom instruction I feel. 

Blog 2. Chapter 1 & 2

Integrating technology into the classroom is very vital in order to keep up with the times and how the children learn as well. Figure 1.2 in the book demonstrates the huge disparity in the amount Of time children spend with technology compared to reading books.  The students need to be stimulated externally and some if not most have difficulty maintaining on task if the task is not talking back. I am not a huge proponent of technology becoming the soul basis for instruction but I do see the benefits of incorporating it into your lesson plan in order to reach those children so need a little more assistance. Seem students have difficulty participating int he classroom and the anonymity of being behind a keyboard is comforting for some students. 

Using technology to improve your instructional practices can liven up certain aspects of your lesson plan in order to keep the children engaged.  If you we're conducting a social studies lesson plan and going over a continent, you can bring up the continent online and bring up examples of what you are speaking about. I can also have the children participate in a cross school program and have children Skype from children around the world. The book also references the amount of disengagement with high school students and the work they do. If they found the work they do in the classroom as relevant, then they will be more willing to spend more time on their assignments outside of class and bring in richer material.

The students could also work collaboratively more easier online. They have more flexibility in addition to the time they would work in the class as well. The book brings to our attention as well that incorporating technology in the class room also addresses the NYSTE and Common Core standards. With more and more  schools partnering up with Dell and Apple, we are going to have to start to get used to using smart boards and tablets in the class room. We have to use these to out benefit.

The students can also submit their assignments online as well and this can reduce the amount of paperwork you and they have to handle.  The different avenues technology offers also can vary the kind of ways the students present their material as well.  We shouldn't ignore or go against the addition of technology in the classroom.