Day 2 of cosoti

I attended from a distance today, mainly because I wanted to try out Elluminate. It was actually superior to the distance learning software used at National when I was there. I forget the name of the program they used, but I remember it including real time instruction with both audio and video elements. I didn’t enjoy it much, and preferred straight online courses as a student. The system was a brand new idea then, and after attending training via Elluminate yesterday, I can see that the quality of those programs has improved quite a bit. It was clear, and felt very organized.

Perhaps my favorite part of cosoti was hearing from Francine, an experienced online English teacher. I wanted to pick her brain for some specific details, like how to facilitate class instruction, and how to manage curriculum. She was a pretty awesome communicator, and I found her “nuts and bolts” approach to be both helpful and applicable.

Day 1 of cosoti

Today I learned so much in such a small space of time! Moodle is my new playground. I have been playing with it for some time, seeing what it can do. I know I’ve only scratched the surface, but it’s exciting! I can see how it facilitates a class experience. Working on quizzes was tricky, but I managed to create a True/False quotations quiz for The Crucible. I bet there is an easier way; I’ll have to ask in the lab tomorrow.

Feeling a bit like this today…

Thing 9 – Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.o was a bit overwhelming. There was just so much stuff to sort through. After much digging here is what I’ve found:

1) Google Earth and Littrips:This gives students the ability to experience the setting of a piece in a more personal way, this creating a more personal connection. I also love that students can create a trip, like this young person did for fifteen poets http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/9-12/Entries/2008/10/27_Fifteen_Poets.html

2) Ning: This kind of forum generator is imperative for teaching English lit. online. Much of the learning experience in this subject area depends on class discussion. This allows me to join the students in discussion and allows them to wrestle through their thoughts on what a piece of writing means.

3) Internet for Classrooms: There is a plethora of resources within, including grammar exercises, types of writing, and analysis tools. This site http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1437/howto.html was great because it teaches the basic formula for a solid essay, a concept I communicate continually in class.

4) Plagerism Checker: This tool is also helpful  http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/ It allows me to check students’ work for authenticity without having to sort through a whole lot of search engines and such. I think every English teacher could benefit from a service like this one.

5) The Owl at Purdue:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ What can I say, the Owl at Purdue rocks! It is the go to place for simple, true, clear direction. It includes rules for grammar, citing sources, and pretty much anything else dealing with the use of the English language. I used it as a college student, and I think my students would benefit from it too.

Thing 8 – Free Technology Tools Blog

Google Earth: I love the “15 Poets “assignment one student completed. This was very well done and he even included links to hear the poem being read and websites for more information.

Flickr Tag: I like this game because it inspires students to practice critical thinking and the use of synonyms. I think it is a good vocabulary building tool.

Book Review Blogs: This makes the student a critic, and therefore a critical reader. I like the idea of empowering students to have a voice about what they read, and offering an opportunity for them to share their thoughts with others.

Library Catalog for Home: I’m not sure that kids are really even aware of the number of literary works they have within reach at home. I would love to have them discover what they have, catalog it, and chose some things to read. This would be a great partnership with a book review blog.

Creating posters and trading cards for books and characters: I am always looking for ways to help students analyze plot and character development. This would be a fun, creative way for them to delve into some literary analysis. I could see it working as a magazine assignment. I have had students create a “Town Tattle” magazine mock up in a traditional classroom. Electronic sources would only make it better in my opinion.

Thing 7-RSS and Blogline

This was a challenging area of learning for me. I get the concept. It’s a lot like the record feature on U-Verse TV. It is a way to subscribe to publications and blogs without having to search each time. This works like the “reader” feature in a way because you set aside often-visited sites for easy access.

I do see the benefits of this, as students will be able to subscribe to classmates’ blogs for collaboration and to news resources used for class assignments. Having access to library resources this way is also very convenient. It cuts through the media barrage to the meat of the information, which is a time saver. I also see how a teacher could use this to locate reliable sites, then make them available for research resources. That ensures that students will use reliable sources and not just glom onto the first thing they find.

Thing 6-Image Generators

I had so much fun playing with image generators. I found some creative poetry sites that students could use in their creative writing, and even saw things we could utilize to make a copy of “Town Tattle” for my Great Gatsby unit.

My favorite was the “Motivators” page, which allowed me to use my photographs too. I used this website to make one: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/

Thing 5 – Flickr

I am already a premium member of Flickr, and I am also a member of several groups within it.  I am an amateur photographer. I’ll add a couple of my pics from Flickr here.

 

 

 

Thing 4 – Searching The Web

Whew! I never realized how much more there is to searching the web. I just started to discover the “invisible web” last semester when I was convinced a student had turned in a plagiarized screenplay. Traditional search engines could not locate the information I sought. I used “Ask Jeeves” to find it, and find it I did. He was pretty surprised that Mrs. C. found that hidden info online.

This was an extremely helpful lesson. I used the term “Automobile Companies” 1920′s because it would apply to a Great Gatsby assignment I use with high school juniors. I will start by answering the questions below.

·  Which search did you like the best?  Why?

I preferred the Google Search Directory for this particular topic. While the Google search engine did locate many sites, I felt overwhelmed, like I had to wade through a lot of irrelevant material to get what I needed. The search directory included more legitimate educational resources as well as a plethora of visual resources like photos and video documentaries. Ask Kids, the student search engine, was also great because it seemed to anticipate the kind of information a student might be looking for without overwhelming them with irrelevant data. However, Ask Kids did not have the visual materials Google Search Directory offered. Directories like LII did not have enough resources on this topic. I suspect that is because they focus on more scholarly, peer reviewed articles.

 ·  What is one thing you learned from this assignment?

I learned that there is much more to the web than search engines! I am amazed at how much information is available to me and the students, more than I ever realized.

 

·  How does this assignment help you to become a better user of information (information literate)?

Oh, this will revolutionize the way I use the web. As an instructor I am always looking to learn new information, and searching for new resources. Continual learning is a large part of teaching. I can see myself compiling resource lists for research projects, creating websites with links for students to retrieve reliable, even peer reviewed, documents. This was a really exciting “thing” for me to learn about.

Thing 3 – iGoogle and Google Suite

First off, I love the documents area of iGoogle Suite. This allows me to give students a tangible, familiar view of what I want from them, and allows me to collaborate with other teachers in like manner. Modeling what you expect is a key part of teaching. If I show my students what I mean, rather than simply telling them, I believe it will facilitate learning.

Also, offering them a shared calendar of assignments and due dates in a virtual space makes things nice. Kids lose paper, then come back and need another copy. This way, there is no paper to lose. They are probably more likely to check a virtual document than a paper I send home anyway. The calendar becomes available at all times in a place where they can’t lose it.

The article on library overhaul was interesting. In my experience, the traditional library model has already adopted some upgrades. Students have access to reading and research materials online, even from home. In fact, the library I worked with subscribes to Pro Quest and other online database programs, providing legitimate, peer reviewed materials. Additionally, the library tech offered tutorials on how to use those resources.

The idea that excites me is having students interact online through blogs and forums to create co-learning. This could become a teaching tool for me as well. I like the idea of having the flexibility and opportunity to enter a conversation with my students online, and the ability to see their thought process regarding what we are learning. Sometimes kids won’t ask a question in class, but will ask in a forum. Believe it or not, I don’t have all of the answers either. With this proposed model, librarians and teachers are more available to help when those questions arise, giving us a chance to teach collaboratively.

 Having the library serve as a lab for teachers and administrators to communicate both physically and virtually has advantages. It would be great to test ideas on a sample population, or to get feedback from a focus group. Ideas are great, but being able to practice something ahead of time like that would be a refining process. It also allows students to feel like they have a voice, and when students are empowered that way, they tend to be more invested.

Thing 1 and 2 Register and Create a Blog

I think I’ve got it. This is my first post after realizing I am not on top of the blogger lingo yet.

I’ve seen the potential for online learning as a student; now I just need to learn the process inside out.

It truly is my belief that online learning can be more interactive, and more inclusive than a traditional setting. Some students feel more free to express themselves in writing, and this format lends itself to that kind of expression.