WEB Page, great for lesson suplimentation...

What a fun thing, a web page. I find it very time consuming, but I see how it can be a wonderful way to connect with students who live in a technologically advanced world. I can include links to relevant web sites that support our lessons. I can post homework documents for students who have missed class. I can link to my email so that communication is fast and easy. I can even highlight student work on my web page. I am creating a themed web page, tailored for a specific subject. This allows me to include only the relevant information and avoid students finding "misleading" overly-detailed information. I can direct them to my web page where they can have an interactive experience with the topic. This includes slide show demos (see below) and links to relevant info. Like Federal Parks pages and Videos and more...! WEB Page, great for lesson supplementation...

podcasting - the new classroom?

I will definitely use podcasting in my class room. What a great option for presenting a research project, for presenting instructions, for tutoring students from home if they miss a lesson. It would be a great way to assess the learning outcomes of a lesson, or series of lessons, when the students make a podcast at the end of the lesson, week, month, or quarter about what they have learned. I could just go on and on...


Lab safety tutorial... Look at my glaring spelling error!!! UGH.. can't correct in now.

Surfing The WEB...What is legit?

Wow! I can't believe wow much stuff there is on the Internet that is outdated, fictional, or just misleading. It is so easy to copy/plagiarize a web page and skew the information to reflect badly or align readers with your angle. I was amazed at how dooped I was by a page that looked like a real research paper presentation but was actually created by a professor to make the point that anything can be faked and people will fall for it.

In today's world of tabloids and political information-twisting I think is is so important to give students the tools to evaluate the authenticity and reliability of a website. Students want to, and do, believe what they read because they have an emotional response to what they read and fail to understand how to know if it is reasonable or truthful information (and then rumors begin). Giving students the tools to validate a website/source is one way to encourage students to think critically about the world and to be able to justify their actions with facts.

Important resources given in class literature:
http://www.register.com/
http://www.altavista.com/
http://http//www.snopes.com

Sample web pages that could easily mislead:
http://www.martinlutherking.org/

GOOGLE EARTH is Da Bomb!

Wow, I had no idea that Google Earth had so many options. I was so excited when I saw that there are virtual tours of the ocean contours and the diverging and converging plates for science/geology. When talking of historical people or places, like De Vinci for example, we can take virtual tours of where these historical events took place. When studying the westward migration of pioneers in America we can look at the terrain that covered wagons would have had to traverse and follow the trail of migration.

Even more exciting is the option of turning our perspective to the sky and looking at the stars, or even virtual tours of other planets! Students can use their deductive skills and go on an historical informational scavenger hunt. I can create a tour with factual information under a pop-up photo and sent students around the world with prompts like "fly to the location of the Gettysburg address".

When thinking about math, students can pick a location of their choice and measure the boundaries. We can bring Google Earth into literacy by visiting the neighborhood where the author grew up, the location of the setting in a story, like the town Esperanza left in the story Esperanza Rising. This gives students some background knowledge and a visual connection to their reading. There are so many things that can be done with Google Earth and I can't wait to use this teaching tool in my science classes!

Digital movies in the classroom...

This week's activity with "iMovie" was fun. I can see that video in the classroom could be very useful. It might be a place where students can voice their opinions/views on a topic in a very personal way (even keep a video diary/journal) to be viewed by the class or the teacher. Students can use this media to compile book reports by reenactment, to conduct interviews, to use for journalistic venues like an online school newspaper, for research reports (an alternative to a PowerPoint presentation), to document science experiments, and to create video/slide shows instead of yearbooks. Instructional videos can be created by students or classes also. It may be a fun way to "pen-pal" with another district or school somewhere in the world. Such a fun media, and something kids can relate to. What kid doesn't want to see themselves as a star on film?

View my sample film, my dogs are the best!

Photo shopping is Fun!

Today's lesson was fun, but I photo shop as a hobby at home. This can be handy if your school produces its own yearbook or memoirs. Students would not manipulate photos for magazines of research, but they may want to for presentations or as a compliment to other assignments. Visuals help focus students into key points, especially in this age of fast paced, colorful media focused world. Younger students can increase their hand-eye coordination using this medium also.
MORE PHOTO SHOPPING!

web 2.0 discussion

The first thing that comes to mind while I am desperately trying to learn the "lingo" and understand all of these resources is that my students are going to know more than I do. I am o busy that I feel it may be impossible to catch up with all the youngsters who do this stuff daily.

There were so many amazing resources introduced to the class, and many of them could be useful. I am sure that many have no application to academics also. I am sometimes concerned that in an effort to perk student's interest we are allowing them to do things that don't necessarily support their academics.

All of what was introduces today was useful. The web source for photo manipulation and sharing surprisingly had an astronomy/earth science resource that lists the sum and moon cycles and times for any earth location. Other applications included making motivational posters that could also be used for posting classroom rules the students draw up themselves. Another way to use this resource is to compile a class's writing projects into magazine project(s), covering each project or group projects with personalized magazine covers.

Another resource we explored was go2web20.net. There are so many places to visit that it will take me months to figure out what is available. I really loved the forum for creating and sharing books. This is a great way to finalize a writing assignment, an alternative way to present research, and another way to share with classmates, friends, and family.

All of these can be adjusted to the content area and grade level of the class you are teaching. all of these resources should be browsed and studied before presenting them to the students for use.

I am discovering that there are some great tools available for the teacher and the student!