Posts
To go along with the previous post, this video is a little reminder: A Vision of Students Today. I'm sure you've all seen this video or a similar one, but it's powerful to watch it often. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Online Inquiry Units
In my reading classes, I am a strong proponent for explicitly teaching strategies to help students construct meaning. I believe students benefit from read-alouds and think-alouds during which they watch me read and walk through the reading processes I use to build comprehension. After purposefully practicing strategies, my students begin to internalize the skills necessary for reading carefully. In the past, I have specifically taught students methods for summarizing, connecting, questioning, inferring, etc., as they read the various genres we studied. Then I went on to my social studies, geography and English classes and asked my students to research content on the Internet without any intentional instruction. Recently I have come to rethink my expectations regarding technology and reading. The Internet is a unique genre that I have overlooked in my mini-lessons in the past. With this genre comes a whole new set of reading and thinking strategies that I must incorporate into my lessons.
The Internet is the primary information source for today’s students. We spend countless hours teaching students methods for reading various texts; we practice strategies for reading novels, textbooks, reference and other materials. For our 21st century learners, we need to connect the old with the new. To read information online, students must be able to recognize new text cues such as indexes, tabs, links and hyperlinks. The Internet lends itself to a unique “interconnection between comprehension and navigation” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 34). Not only must we purposefully teach students how to navigate multiple sources, we also must teach them how to navigate back and forth between multiple programs and tabs. They also need skills for choosing trustworthy sources of information that fit their research needs. They must practice skills for analyzing web site credibility and then practice techniques for ensuring credibility in the content they create online. The process for reading and publishing online is daunting; teachers must incorporate these new skills into their lessons.
My last course through Walden, “Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom”, inspired me to add a new unit into my curriculum. I want to teach my students a unit of online inquiry. I think it is important for 21st Century learners to be able to determine what they want to learn online and know the best ways to access that information. Alan November provides useful strategies for teaching students how to evaluate web sites (Web Literacy for Educators, 2008). Check out the “Screencast” blog for an overview of his REAL strategy. After learning how to search and evaluate web sites, students need practice reading multiple sources and synthesizing the information. Once students develop these skills, they can become a part of the massive information-sharing network we have online. This is the best technique I have discovered for preparing students for their lives as 21st Century learners.
Check out my references. All literacy teachers should read these texts:
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.
The Internet is the primary information source for today’s students. We spend countless hours teaching students methods for reading various texts; we practice strategies for reading novels, textbooks, reference and other materials. For our 21st century learners, we need to connect the old with the new. To read information online, students must be able to recognize new text cues such as indexes, tabs, links and hyperlinks. The Internet lends itself to a unique “interconnection between comprehension and navigation” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 34). Not only must we purposefully teach students how to navigate multiple sources, we also must teach them how to navigate back and forth between multiple programs and tabs. They also need skills for choosing trustworthy sources of information that fit their research needs. They must practice skills for analyzing web site credibility and then practice techniques for ensuring credibility in the content they create online. The process for reading and publishing online is daunting; teachers must incorporate these new skills into their lessons.
My last course through Walden, “Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom”, inspired me to add a new unit into my curriculum. I want to teach my students a unit of online inquiry. I think it is important for 21st Century learners to be able to determine what they want to learn online and know the best ways to access that information. Alan November provides useful strategies for teaching students how to evaluate web sites (Web Literacy for Educators, 2008). Check out the “Screencast” blog for an overview of his REAL strategy. After learning how to search and evaluate web sites, students need practice reading multiple sources and synthesizing the information. Once students develop these skills, they can become a part of the massive information-sharing network we have online. This is the best technique I have discovered for preparing students for their lives as 21st Century learners.
Check out my references. All literacy teachers should read these texts:
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Surviving the End of the World
Rick and I learned how to use iMovie last weekend for a class project for his Bachelor's degree. Hope you enjoy his strange directing...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Big VP
Did I mention I took a job as interim vice principal? What the heck was I thinking? I keep running this over and over in my head. How did this happen? I have never had the inclination to work in administration. I love my job. I think I am probably the only adult I know who can honestly make that statement. Sure, there are days I want to pull the fire alarm and hide out in a bathroom stall until I can make a break for it. Yet, somehow, I ended up leaving my cush job surrounded by loveable 6th graders (perfectly trained, I might add) to become the new force of evil at my school.
I'll tell you how it happened- I was coerced, I tell you. My amazing principal, Dan, was called away for the Army. He's off training troops in Oklahoma. So, he asks me, "Kris, I need your help." How could I say no to the one and only great administrator I have ever known?
So here I am, writing referrals, creating policy and calling parents all day long. I'll let you know how it goes, but so far all I can say is, "hug your administrator today!"
I'll tell you how it happened- I was coerced, I tell you. My amazing principal, Dan, was called away for the Army. He's off training troops in Oklahoma. So, he asks me, "Kris, I need your help." How could I say no to the one and only great administrator I have ever known?
So here I am, writing referrals, creating policy and calling parents all day long. I'll let you know how it goes, but so far all I can say is, "hug your administrator today!"
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Screencast
I spent the last week exploring hoax web sites online. I am amazed at the numerous fake web sites out there! Many of these web sites come up right away in a Google search. Try this: Google Martin Luther King. The third resource is a startlingly biased web site created by a white pride organization called Stormfront. The site, at martinlutherking.com, looks valid but contains biased information. These are the kind of sites our students are clicking to all of the time as they research. Without training for recognizing scams and hoaxes online, our students are vulnerable.
It is startling to think about how easy it would be for our students to click on false information online. For instance, I read Rodman Philbrick's "Freak, the Mighty" with my sixth graders. In the story, Kevin suffers from a crippling disease. He tells his friend Max that his doctor is designing a bionic body for him. As we read the book, my students believe that bionics is possible. If a student wanted to conduct further research on this topic, they very well may find the web site for RYT Hospital. The site has beautiful graphics and is professionally kept. This hospital supposedly uses bionics along with genetic engineering for embryos. How are our young students to know when a web site is invalid?
Alan November's "Web Literacy for Educators" offers a variety of methods for uncovering invalid web sites. He calls the Internet "the most powerful, convenient, and potentially manipulative medium ever invented" (2008, p. vii). He encourages direct instruction in critical thinking techniques as we explore the Internet.
My Walden Masters program assigned a screencast this week. I put together a video to show my students, giving them tips for uncovering the truth. I think the screecast will be eye-opening for my students as well as for many adults.Clicking on the "Screencast" link will take you to my video. Check it out!
November, Alan. 2008. "Web Literacy for Educators". Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
It is startling to think about how easy it would be for our students to click on false information online. For instance, I read Rodman Philbrick's "Freak, the Mighty" with my sixth graders. In the story, Kevin suffers from a crippling disease. He tells his friend Max that his doctor is designing a bionic body for him. As we read the book, my students believe that bionics is possible. If a student wanted to conduct further research on this topic, they very well may find the web site for RYT Hospital. The site has beautiful graphics and is professionally kept. This hospital supposedly uses bionics along with genetic engineering for embryos. How are our young students to know when a web site is invalid?
Alan November's "Web Literacy for Educators" offers a variety of methods for uncovering invalid web sites. He calls the Internet "the most powerful, convenient, and potentially manipulative medium ever invented" (2008, p. vii). He encourages direct instruction in critical thinking techniques as we explore the Internet.
My Walden Masters program assigned a screencast this week. I put together a video to show my students, giving them tips for uncovering the truth. I think the screecast will be eye-opening for my students as well as for many adults.Clicking on the "Screencast" link will take you to my video. Check it out!
November, Alan. 2008. "Web Literacy for Educators". Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Becoming a 21st Century Teacher
I have always believed that computers can provide “tremendous opportunities to enhance classroom instruction” (Keengwe, 2008). I signed up to learn about technology at Walden because I wanted to enhance my teaching with the interactive application that comes with Internet learning. What I carry away from the course is a much deeper understanding of technology and its impact on the world and our students.
Most importantly, this class gave me a deeper understanding of technology and its implications on instruction. Even as we begin using technology in our classrooms, we need to take a moment to look at how technology has already reshaped the world of our students. As digital natives, our students have grown up with a world of knowledge at their fingertips. Thanks to video games and electronic toys, they think differently than us. They are used to receiving information at high speeds; they are multi-taskers who require stimulation for learning (Prensky, 2001).
Due to the ubiquity of technology, our students do not need teachers to convey knowledge to them in the traditional sense. The answer to any question is no farther than a Google search away (Richardson, 2009, p. 131). They need us to help them navigate the great quantity of information that surrounds them. Educators need to come to recognize the uniqueness in their students’ learning styles. We need reach out to them and incorporate their digital lives into our classrooms (Prensky, 2005). This means that classrooms need to be student-centered, as opposed to teacher-centered. Because knowledge is free and ever-present in our world, we need to teach kids how to synthesize that knowledge and think critically about its applications.
Thanks to the World Wide Web, knowledge has become a collaborative endeavor. Students can now create work that can be read by others around the world. With the advent of wikis, our students publish not ‘finished’ items, but products that can be “added to and refined” by people outside the classroom (Richardson, 2009). This means that not only can anyone read and grow from their ideas, but students can also become editors of the content they read on the Internet, giving them the opportunity to “converse and interact with” the information they find (Richardson, 2009). If teachers learn how to utilize these tools, our students are no longer blank slates to be filled with knowledge; they are now active participants in their learning and in their own futures.
Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Wachira, P. (2008). The use of computer tools to support meaningful learning. AACE Journal, 16(1).
Prensky, M. (2001, September/October). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Most importantly, this class gave me a deeper understanding of technology and its implications on instruction. Even as we begin using technology in our classrooms, we need to take a moment to look at how technology has already reshaped the world of our students. As digital natives, our students have grown up with a world of knowledge at their fingertips. Thanks to video games and electronic toys, they think differently than us. They are used to receiving information at high speeds; they are multi-taskers who require stimulation for learning (Prensky, 2001).
Due to the ubiquity of technology, our students do not need teachers to convey knowledge to them in the traditional sense. The answer to any question is no farther than a Google search away (Richardson, 2009, p. 131). They need us to help them navigate the great quantity of information that surrounds them. Educators need to come to recognize the uniqueness in their students’ learning styles. We need reach out to them and incorporate their digital lives into our classrooms (Prensky, 2005). This means that classrooms need to be student-centered, as opposed to teacher-centered. Because knowledge is free and ever-present in our world, we need to teach kids how to synthesize that knowledge and think critically about its applications.
Thanks to the World Wide Web, knowledge has become a collaborative endeavor. Students can now create work that can be read by others around the world. With the advent of wikis, our students publish not ‘finished’ items, but products that can be “added to and refined” by people outside the classroom (Richardson, 2009). This means that not only can anyone read and grow from their ideas, but students can also become editors of the content they read on the Internet, giving them the opportunity to “converse and interact with” the information they find (Richardson, 2009). If teachers learn how to utilize these tools, our students are no longer blank slates to be filled with knowledge; they are now active participants in their learning and in their own futures.
Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Wachira, P. (2008). The use of computer tools to support meaningful learning. AACE Journal, 16(1).
Prensky, M. (2001, September/October). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Podcasting
Wow! The homework this week about caused me to run screaming into the woods and revert to life in the old ways.
I had to create a podcast, which is a relatively easy task. However, I of course made it more complicated than necessary. First, I recorded the podcast on iMovie, since it was the site my student showed me how to use. After spending hours perfecting the piece, listening over and over again to my horrible broadcast voice, I couldn't get the stupid thing to upload (it came out as a video file).
However, it's done. You can access my podcast through the link (I hope) but don't expect anything too amazing. (Like I said, I have a terrible broadcast voice.) Also, it came out as an M4A file, so you have to click that little box under the 'Listen Now' box to hear it.
I had to create a podcast, which is a relatively easy task. However, I of course made it more complicated than necessary. First, I recorded the podcast on iMovie, since it was the site my student showed me how to use. After spending hours perfecting the piece, listening over and over again to my horrible broadcast voice, I couldn't get the stupid thing to upload (it came out as a video file).
However, it's done. You can access my podcast through the link (I hope) but don't expect anything too amazing. (Like I said, I have a terrible broadcast voice.) Also, it came out as an M4A file, so you have to click that little box under the 'Listen Now' box to hear it.
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