Webspiration

http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/670151a1c2e4

Glogster

Despite its limitations, Glogster seems to be a good tool for students to use. I would definitely use it in my classroom since it's so easy to understand as software and it would save paper when doing poster projects. Also, it allows kids to add videos and other media in their visual, which is obviously unavailable to them when they are using paper posters. It is also useful for kids who may not be very artistically gifted, so they can still make their poster attractive without having to worry about their drawing skills. useful!

wordle

http://screencast.com/t/PXt6Sohw

Jing

http://screencast.com/t/bgFW3ZARM

Poll everywhere

Build television sms voting polls at Poll Everywhere

virtual worlds in social studies

Dear Parents,

I am excited to announce that this year our social studies classroom is going to add a new learning tool to our toolbox. We will begin to use the virtual world Second Life as part of our learning process. This virtual learning tool allows students to create an avatar, a graphic representation of the user, with a unique identity and name who can explore worlds that have already been created. All of our interactions will be limited to the people in our classroom, and all of your children's interactions will be safe.

There are three main reasons that I have decided to add this learning tool to our classroom. First, it is a way to connect with students on a level that they are comfortable with. Many young people are already using video games and virtual realities on a regular basis outside of school. Allowing them to hone this literacy and use it in an educational and productive way will help them to understand its value beyond a simple distraction from reality.

Second, this technology will allow all of us to explore places and ideas in history that we otherwise would not be able to visit. For example, there is a virtual place called Roma that is based on ancient Rome. The Sistine Chapel and ancient Mayan civilizations are just two of the many other examples of places we can go in this virtual reality. Teachers often show videos of these places, which is a decent way to bring history to life. But if students are able to actually be there, then their understanding will be even more expanded, and they are more likely to engage with the material.

Finally, the use of virtual worlds and avatars sets an even playing field for all students, and allows them to build their confidence. Being able to choose another form, personality, and name gives students some control when they might otherwise be struggling their identity. Second Life also allows students who would not normally interact with each other to do so in a safe and non-judgmental environment.

If you'd like to give Second Life a try, you can go to secondlife.com and sign up for free. Of course, we will not be using this program on a regular basis, and it will be an enhancement tool, not the sole tool for teaching. If you have questions or would like to discuss this more, please feel free to email me at Kkondrat@gmail.com.

Best,

Katy Kondrat

8th grade social studies

Useful online grading tool - Engrade

Engrade is a really useful and easy-to-use online grading program that offers access to teachers, students and parents.

engrade.com

Things I've learned

It's hard for me to pinpoint the thing that I've appreciated learning most in this class. I have to say that I've really gotten a lot of these several weeks so far. If I have to pick one thing, it's probably that I now know which resources are available for teachers online. (I know that's not one thing.) Knowing how to find the things you need is a great skill. My better grasp on those programs and websites will allow me to access them at my leisure and be a more self-sufficient teacher.

There are plenty of things that I feel like I don't know much about that I should... I really can't think of a single one though - I already know way more than I thought I could!

My Google Form - Chinese Legalism

LiveBinder

Teaching American History

This LiveBinder is actually a really good resource for primary source analysis materials. The author has documents on how to analyze a primary source, maps, how to do expository writing, etc. I love this software! overall very useful for teaching history.

Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free.

http://www.hulu.com

This is the home of Glee. My most favoritest vice.

 

SAS curriculum pathways

Launch #: 401

The lesson from SAS that I chose is a writing and research project on 19th century American reformers. I didn't find many of the projects included on this site to be particularly interesting for the teaching/learning style that I hope to have, but they all do offer the opportunity of revision and expansion to create a more compatible lesson or project. As such, it may be more helpful to think of these as ideas for projects and lessons, rather than ready-to-go ones.

The project I chose was one that I found that I could use almost as written. It allows a lot of leeway for the teacher, and acts really as an outline and list of resources for a research project. The thing that drew me to this one in particular was that it incorporates several different, important skills that mostly all students need to work on: researching, writing, empathizing, analyzing, etc. It also allows for an element of choice, which I find to be incredibly important when doing research. Starting with some of the online resources that the website suggests, students will choose a reform movement that interests them. They create a fictional character based on historical facts and write several journal entries from that person's perspective.

One way that I might modify or add to the assignment is to have students choose reforms that were happening simultaneously but were in some sort of opposition to one another. Then through their fictionalized character, they would have a debate about the merits of their reform and the deficits of the other. This would add even more skill building to the project: public speaking and argument formation.

माय प्रेजी - अप्परेंत्ल्य इन सम ओथेर language

Homework

Things that I like about Zoho Writer that makes it unique:

1. 1. Tabs at the top make changing between docs way easy.
   
2. 2. You can convert to PDF - super awesome
   
3. 3. This is not unique, but I like that it is reminiscent of Word, which I am familiar with.
   

Things that I think Zoho Writer lacks in comparison to other word processors:

1. 1. Not as versatile as Google Docs
   
2. 2. lack of folders is kind of weird.
   
3. 3. only 1 gb is not too much memory!
   

I could integrate this program into my classroom by... asking students to use it when collaborating on papers/projects in social studies.

 

Book review grading

I've found the prospect of grading group work to be really difficult. It is hard to balance process and product, especially when 4 or 5 people are involved. For the book review, I think it makes sense to factor in both individual work and final product/group work. Because part of the point of group work is to create something together (the sum is greater than the parts), I think the grading should reflect that. If you leave out one part of that equation, the project grade will only reflect assessment of one part, not both. It seems to make sense that each group member's grade would be weighed with 40% of their work grade, and 60% as the final product or overall group grade.

Higher level thinking in intel

I'll be honest: sometimes I worry that when I'm a teacher I won't be able to happily mix content with and higher order thinking skills, both of which are very important to becoming a well-rounded, smart, critically thinking adult. The Intel workspace tools offer a relatively simple way to incorporate both aspects into the learning process. Each of the tools (visual ranking, seeing reason, and showing evidence) goes beyond simply regurgitating facts, or just making a claim. They force students to rationalize their thoughts and thought processes. This is crucial, especially for young people. So often people - of all ages - make claims that they cannot substantiate, or they don't have evidence or don't know where it came from, or they blindly say one thing is better than another. The Intel programs offer very clear and process-oriented opportunities for students to think about their thinking, which I highly value. An example of the cause-effect tool used to encourage higher thinking skills is writing a paper on WWI. There are many causes of WWI, and this tool could be used to help organize students' arguments, and then also make them rationalize the reasons they include and exclude.

Another way these tools promote higher order thinking is by requiring students to respond to their classmates' work and critique their choices. Not only does this benefit the student whose work is being critiqued, it also forces the critiquer to look at other perspectives and ways of seeing the same argument, which can help make his/her argument stronger. If, for example, students are asked to rank the most influential people in US history, they also have to justify their responses. So while it is likely that each student (or group of students) will have a different opinion and perspective, they will be able to explain their thinking within the tool and other students can better understand, and potentially adjust their perspective.

Intel - showing evidence

The intel Teacher Workspace projects are nifty tools.

Here's the Teacher ID: Kkondrat

Student ID: Team1

Pswrd: Team1

Student ID: Team2

Pswrd: Team2

I did my assignment in Showing Evidence. It is targeted at a 10th grade global studies class where most students still need a great deal of guidance when writing papers with a thesis and supporting claims and evidence. In this hypothetical assignment, I ask students to write a midterm research paper (that we work on together in stages in class for quite a while) about the reign of Louis XIV. The question is: The art and architecture commissioned by Louis XIV went beyond ornamentation; it also served political purposes. What role did the art, architecture, and court life surrounding Louis XIV play in building a system of absolutist monarchy in France? (this question is taken from Dr. Andy Evans's Modern Europe class).

With the showing evidence tool, students will use their research to compile claims and evidence to write a coherent, well-organized paper that addresses the question at hand. The research paper itself is a summative assessment, but along the way there will be a series of formative assessments to gauge students' work and keep them on a schedule (research sheets, outlines, drafts, etc.).

This tool is for the students' advantage much more than my own. Yes, I will be able to see their progress and comment on their work, but they hold the reigns. They will be responsible for creating each claim and supporting evidence based on their own individual research, supporting their own thesis that they crafted. Once they have created and substantiated their list, each student will sign on to two other students' projects and comment on and rank their classmates' evidence. While it will be beneficial to the student whose work is being reviewed, it also benefits the reviewer since they will be able to see other organizations, claims, evidence, etc. and can potentially revise their own work for the better.

Podcasts

I've spent a lot of time listening to podcasts, or just streaming radio shows. I enjoy being able to listen to people talk, learn about what they're investigating, all the while washing dishes, driving or stretching. It seems simple: you talk into a microphone, add some sound effects, and voila! My experience has broadened my understanding of the process: it is not simple or linear...

With that understanding, I can say that creating a podcast is certainly a learning experience of its own accord. This can be a valuable way to keep students interested in the material we learn in social studies - it's essentially asking them to teach a short lesson, but they don't have to stand in front of the class. It would be interesting to assign teams of students a multi-media project (it could be on any topic) that would include audio, visual, and textual components.

Already-made podcasts are also useful in the classroom. There are some very unconventional podcasts out there that will really keep students' attention, and can be used to work on listening comprehension. I'm visualizing students listening in groups to a short podcast, maybe 5-10 minutes, discussing what they heard, and then creating an image or process-drama piece that embodies the author's perspective. This would have to be done with a podcast that takes a position on the topic in order to make it more interesting.

I would be lying if I said I was likely to make podcasts to use in my classroom. While students can make podcasts to deepen their understanding of a topic, it doesn't seem to make sense to invest hours to create a podcast that will be heard for 5 minutes. However, it might make sense for students whose reading skills are below grade level to have podcasts as a resource if they are struggling a great deal.

Multitasking video and attenti, ooo what's that?

PBS's Frontline video on multitasking in education was fascinating. Though it's a short clip, we hear from several college students, all of whom have the same perspective: Not only can we multitask, we can't NOT multitask. This is a very prominent characteristic of our generation, one that my parents and their parents did not have to deal with and can't exactly relate to. It was particularly surprising that the students interviewed did not seem to have any qualms about their multitasking, and were even offended if professors requested their full attention. One student said, "unless I'm overwhelmed, I fall asleep."

To me, this is terrifying. Sure, I'm guilty of multitasking, and it even makes me feel excited and productive a lot of the time. But I can't help but think that it is totally unnatural for our brains to be "on" all the time, thinking about 5 different things at once. In fact, multitasking isn't even the worst, but it's not what we're really doing most of the time. The big problem is "continuous partial attention." The PBS website (under FAQ) describes the difference between the two phenomena this way: "When we're multitasking, we have a specific purpose for each task, and we are trying to do each task well. We shift between tasks, and that sometimes slows down our productivity. But when we're in continuous partial attention, we're scanning multiple dimensions of our environment constantly. We aren't switching back and forth between activities; we're doing lots of things all at the same time."

I think this sort of constant cognitive motion is destructive to our being. I read that the more time we spend multitasking, the less down time our brains have, which stimulates creative thinking. The down time is the key - not only for relaxation, but also for improving our cognitive processes- and it seems like culturally we're moving further and further from that concept and closer to a constantly-on way of being. This has serious implications for teaching and learning since creativity are integral to critical thinking skills and also simply being an interesting person!

I'm going to get off the computer now and go sit in the grass.

Tech in the classroom

So I'm not what anyone, besides my grandma and her lovely friends, might call technologically savvy. Well, I know how to use my cell phone and an iPod (though I don't have one), and I know my way around a Mac pretty well. But these days, that's considered the most basic knowledge. My 11 year old brother, who never used Mavis Beacon in school like I did, and has been alive the entire time that the internet has been all the rage, is better at just about everything that has to do with technology. And he lets me know it.

Last semester I went to a workshop on campus about the future of technology in schools and that's when it really hit me: I am not at all in the same technological generation as the students that I will be teaching. Even if I'm 26 and they're 16, a pretty negligible age difference 50 years ago, I will be so far behind their learning curve if I don't do stop being such a Luddite.

So what I need to learn are the tools to be able to stay in touch with the changing technologies around which my students' lives will revolve. But, as a Luddite, I also want to be reassured that it's alright for me to potentially go days, even a few weeks (!), without using computer technology in my classroom. The next generation of kids is likely going to grow up surrounded by screens, an endless flow of information, and in an increasingly disconnected world. I'd like to learn how to use technology (and not use technology) to build human connections and help my students live in an ever-changing world.