The smartboard project took a great deal of time. I believe that it should become easier as I have real objectives and classroom. Further comments can be found on my rubric.
The list of websites devoted to teaching and learning through technology is very helpful and thought provoking.
There were some sites that I felt were potentially dangerous such as livemocha.com. Asking children to hook up with strangers on line raises big red flags.
The 2 websites that appeal to my desire to more actively engaging students are Journey North ( http://www.learner.org/jnorth)and safesharetv (http://www.safesharetv.tv)
As I expect to be teaching general science Journey North is "a robust, interactive tool that tracks student progress towards specific goals, uses self selected content" and it is live (Annenberg, 2010). The migration of any species is always unique one season to the next.
This is a very focused activity that requires the same academic output yet input is unique. This also creates a platform for students to present and teach other children in the class which supports self esteem and confidence. I also like the fact that the class can also compare the results of the prior year migration and then draw comparisons and analyze how this impacts their prediction of future results.
Lastly, the process by which students acquire necessary data is safe and also purged for authenticity.
The second site, sharesav.tv is a resource that I believe will support the ability to use Internet project as a teaching tool. This resource allows me to pre-screen the data that is in the student's projects and eliminate any inappropriate content.
I also have the chance to understand the validity of the information and research sites listed as useful to gain further information. The ability to have a wide variety of websites in one location will allow for consistent access to data and questions, inquiries from the class are contained in the website content. It appears one needs to set up an account so I have not yet been able to source or find information for further research.
If I were to use either of these tools in the class room, I would insist that everyone go to the website, www.Albion.com and reference the book Netiquette (Shea, 1994) so there is an understanding of what is appropriate when interacting on line. She is known as the Emily Post for the digital age. The full text is available on the Albion website.
References:
Shea, V. (1994). Netiquette Albion Books.
Retrieved June 27, 2011 from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/0963702513p4.html
Annenberg (2010). Journey North: A global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Annenberg Learner. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from
http://www..learner.org/jnorth/Annenberg Learner
You bring up a good point about LiveMocha - there are potential issues with having students connect with strangers around the world. Also, most of the "strangers" are adults, rather than students. It is critical for teachers to evaluate each site in order to determine if it appropriate for use in their classroom. Citations and references are looking better. The organization name for Journey North is actually Annenberg Learner.org - also you do not need to include Annenberg Learner (underlined) in the reference. You can delete that. For your Shea reference - after the year of publication - and the title of the web page - you just need: Retrieved from http://www....
ReplyDeleteYou don't need the date or Albion Books listed on the reference.
Vanessa. Thank you for the information on how to site a website. I am obviously trying to give too many people too much credit. All of other papers have been hard copy or journal articles, etc.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your help. Yesterday was a great class. Lori