Saturday, April 17, 2010

Wiki Assignment Reflection

This is the page I made on the wiki:
http://k12instructionaltechnology.wikispaces.com/DiigoLessonPlan

And I contributed to the resources my Prezi find :)
http://k12instructionaltechnology.wikispaces.com/ELABlogs
You can check it out here: http://prezi.com/my/

I would consider using wiki's in my classroom because they are accessible even once your students have passed through my classroom. I also think that it is an excellent way for students to share work with each other. Additionally, it seems that students rarely get a chance to "publish" their work so a wiki sort of verifies their hard work.

Friday, April 9, 2010

PREZI MAGIC

Okay I have been introduced to this new program that is an alternative to powerpoint and I am in love with it! You really should check it out here on prezi.com

The Road Movie





This may have been my most frustrating project because i had to redo it three times. I guess imovie doesn't like me or something but it is finally finished, hooray! I published it twice here in two different ways just for fun!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Internet Safety

What you learned from Videos and articles?

Top 5 ways teens are comprimising their identities:
I was surprised to hear that people steal the identities of children, my mind had never even gone there before. I really support spreading knowledge to teenagers who unknowingly give out personal information online. Explicit instruction about internet safety seems to be a great way to protect students.

Growing Up Online: HOnestly it is hard for me to think that I am at all outdated but this brought to mind how different my upbringing was from the children around me. My nephew, for instance, gets to play with his dad's itouch as a little entertainment and he is less than 2 years old. I suddenly had the realization of how much technology has changed and evolved since I was little.

Let Our Voices Be Heard by Elder Ballard,
Finding and Sharing the Gospel Online,
Things as They Really Are by Elder Bednar: I loved all of these gospel perspectives on the internet. It made me really reflect on how inspired and up to date these men are. It was also nice to read about how the internet can be a danger and a resource. Battling this dichotomy offers yet another opportunity to use our discernment. I thought that Elder Bednar's talk in particular was so refreshing. It took into consideration the current state of deterioration of humanity based on a cyber-existence. It seemed like such a refresher to have Elder Bednar explain how reality is not what we see online but rather the interactions that we have.



Who I taught and how it went?
Luckily my visiting teachers were nice enough to let me teach them a little bit about internet safety in a casual way. They seemed interested in hearing how identity theft is a major threat. I think because they are from an older generation than I am they are even more weary of the internet, which is good for safety but possible crippling aswell.

Goals I have as a teacher...
As a teacher I want to create a safe environment where my students feel empowered by their knowledge of the internet. If they know how to stay safe while searching and learning then they will have a better experience in the classroom.

Finals Project

For finals I would be willing to share my class website! That was the most exciting thing for me to create this semester and it is something that I really want to use in my classroom.

Here is a link to my website:

https://sites.google.com/site/mrschristensensclasssite/

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Advertisements for Class

If you were teaching about advertisements in class here are some excellent examples to use. They can answer the following questions:
1. Who constructed this message?
2. What techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently form me?
4. What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
5. Why is the message being sent?



Copyright and teachertube






These are two videos that animate poetry. Being able to visualize poetry can commonly be one of the most challenging parts of comprehension. With these two videos students would be able to utilize multiple modalities in order to understand the poems at hand. As far as copyright goes, these videos seem to be a little bit on the edge of whether they are within their rights or not. They are using it for educational purposes but they are taking published poetry and making it free to everyone. In my opinion it wouldn't harm the market but they are using the poems in their entirety.

Technology Competition

I was really impressed with the idea of a class wiki mostly because I have participated in two class wiki's here on campus and I have found them extremely helpful. Being able to access class information long after you have completed the class is an excellent way for students to access prior knowledge and activate schema through participation in the wiki. I think that as teachers we all hope that our students will carry something on with them after they have left our classrooms and through wikis there is something more concrete to hold on to.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Example Artifact





Here are Screenshots of the example research I did, with annotations listed below in my library, the group that I created for my class to join so that they can collaborate on their research. It shows my library and screenshots of the researched pages, etc. These will all be extremely helpful when showing my students how to highlight, annotate and store their research.

Personal Project Lesson Plan

LESSON PLAN
PLANNING

Date: TBD Class and Grade Level: 11th

Title/Subject of Lesson: Diigo Research

Objective(s):
Students will be able to use Diigo, the internet annotation and collaboration site, to research Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies.

Students will be able to annotate websites to connect with the text they are reading.



State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s):
Standard 3 (Inquiry/Research/Oral Presentation):
Objective 2 (Written Communication of Inquiry): Write to evaluate information and to make
recommendations.
a. Select an appropriate format to evaluate and report research results.
b. Gather, evaluate, and organize evidence to support a position.
c. Support evaluations and recommendations using paraphrase, summary,

Concept(s) to Be Taught: Diigo, Internet Research, Annotation, Collaboration
Materials Needed: Computers (laptops for each student preferably)

PERFORMING

Continuation from Previous Lesson:
“Last time we met I introduced us to the research project that we will be working on for this unit. Now that you all decided on a topic that you will be writing on today we get to dive a little deeper by using the internet. As we are looking through the internet I really want you guys to pay attention to the credibility of sources like we talked about yesterday.”


Lesson Presentation:

A)Getting Started:
Before handing out the computers I will demonstrate how to use diigo so that the students aren’t distracted by anything around them. “Our class is very lucky that we get to have computers for research today, this will broaden our possibilities for discovery. As a class we will be using a program called ‘Diigo’ to help us keep track of the amazing finding that we make and to annotate the websites that we find aswell.”

Pull up the internet and first show students how to create an account at Diigo.

Show them that I have already created a group called “Mrs. Christensen’s Class” that I have invited them to and they need to join it.

Watch the introductory video on the website (about 6 minutes long).

Install the Diigo toolbar and restart browser.

“Now that we have watched the introduction video I will demonstrate how we will be using this for our particular assignment. We all completed reading ‘In the Time of the Butterflies’ by Julia Alvarez, you have chosen your topic and conference with me, and now we need to get some more information.”

Search “In the Time of the Butterflies and Patriotism” in GoogleScholar. “Alright I have found some good hits so I will choose one that looks like it would help me with my research paper. Okay, I like this one that is titled “Both Sides of History… Click on that. As you begin to read your article, first decide if it is relevant. If it is then highlight what interests you or applies specifically to your paper. Right click and add notes with connections that you make or any thoughts that you have as you read.”

Model this behavior with the page you are on.

“Now go to your toolbar and click ‘Bookmark,’ a box will pop up and you need to click the ‘snapshot’ button and add a tag that says the main topic of your website that you found. Be sure to add this bookmark to our class group and then press ‘save.’”

Navigate back to your diigo home page and click on ‘My Library’ show students how all of you notes and highlights are saved and you can go back and access your page at any time.



B)Directing the Learning:
“Now we are going to go through this process together.” Pass out Laptops.

Have everyone sign on open the internet and go to diigo.com. Walk around and be sure that everyone is on the same page as they create their own accounts and join the class group. “Once you have created your account and joined the class group raise your hand so that I can come around and okay you to start research. Before the end of the period I want at least two annotated docs added to your personal website and to the groups as well. You will have about 50 minutes on your own to research and annotate any pages that will help you and possibly help your fellow students. This should be a silent activity as you should be reading and writing, not sharing with your neighbor.”
Be sure to walk around while students are researching to make sure they are looking at valid sources and are understanding the concept of diigo.


C)Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion:
“Alright now that you have completed some excellent research I want your hands off your laptops and eyes up front.”
Get back on to your diigo account and open up the group page. “Lets look together at our group page.” Explain that the beauty of this system is that they have many more resources because they all worked together to find resources. “You can use each other’s findings to help you on your papers.” Go through and open some examples so they can see how you read someone else’s comments and add to the notes, change the color of highlighting, etc.
“Tomorrow we will have another chance to expand our research and now you have all created an excellent diving board for each other to use.”


Assignment:
Have two annotated documents/websites bookmarked on the group page.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Personal Technology Project Proposal

I would like to explore more deeply the possibilities of a class wiki either on pbworks or through google. I watched a couple training videos on lynda.com and it seems to me that this could be an excellent way to house research or personal writings. It also seems like a great place for students to benefit from each others writing instead of it being a solely teacher to student interaction.

Monday, February 8, 2010

My Class Website















I am loving the idea of having a class website so that the parents of my students can be filled in on what is happening in my day to day routine.

Check it out!

https://sites.google.com/site/mrschristensensclasssite/

Personal Learning Network




1.English Companion Ning. This is a discussion forum where fellow English teachers get together and talk about ideas that worked or didn't work for their classrooms.
2.National Council of Teachers of English. Keeping up to date with the NCTE unites teachers across the United States with good books, essays, etc.
3.Free Technology for teachers
4.NPR I have found that keeping up with this news station helps inspire many of my lesson plans. Just the other day I heard a story about three-word memoirs and I thought about how my students could write their own memoirs.
5. And of course, Teaching with Technology. A blog by a BYU professor who has lots of resources about teaching with technology

Friday, January 22, 2010

Stuff White People Like- Multicultural Aid in the Classroom

While we address multicultural topics in our classroom it seems rather helpful to have examples of culture and ethnicity. I was introduced to this website; stuffwhitepeoplelike.com in another one of my classes and I thought that you would appreciate this blog as teachers. It brings in an added amount of humor to the idea of racial identity and it can help to bring forth a topic in the classroom that is very touchy. Also, it has helped me to laugh a bit at my own race and use it as a way to present myself as a white teacher to the students that I have. Obviously this website should be used with an added amount of judgment and not be any sort of way to make superior or inferior judgments about race. It is merely a way to point out differences or similarities.

चेक आउट थे ट्रन्स्लतिओन

I bet you had no idea that blogger could translate everything that you write into another language, well this here post goes out to all of my friends who speak hindi. That way you are in on this little secret that all other readers don't know.

All About Me!

Born and raised in Menlo Park, California I didn't really know what it meant to have seasons. We had rain for winter and temperate weather the rest of the year. Now that I live in Utah I am more than aware how terribly cold and invigoratingly beautiful the seasons can be. I am a nature addict who can never seem to be outside hiking, biking, rollerblading, or running enough. To help you get a feel for the type of nature lover that I am, I included a slide show at the bottom of this page with some inspirational pictures that might make you feel like you are outside when in actuality you are sitting in front of a computer. I am newly married and loving every minute of it! Yesterday I even tried my hand at baking homemade bread (honey white and it was delicious). Who knew that becoming a wife turns on the domestic button in my brain. I am now a devoted follower of the Barefoot Contessa who inspires my culinary side. Check out her recipes at her website http://www.barefootcontessa.com/