Ecology Podcast

The Blog I picked is about Ecology. In this podcasts students learn more about ecosystems, biomes and the effects that humans have on the environment. My 4th grade students are currently studying ecosystems and I believe this podcast would enhance their knowledge of the subject.

ePals

The ePals sight offers much to teachers and students. This website is a way for teachers and students to collaborate all over the world. I believe some of the most useful features include locating classroom penpals, virtual field trips, teacher and student work, and ePals book club.

In my classroom I could use several of these features. I would like to set up penpals for my classroom to practice their writing, so I think it might be nice to pick a different area in the world and locate penpals that are looking to achieve a similar goal as me. Also, I will use the virtual fieldtrips in my classroom to give my students a better view of different parts of the world.

Bubblr

All About Seeds

I looked into the website Bubblr. I tried out this site because I recently had my students create comic strips about what they learned about seeds. I created my own comic strip about seeds. This is something I could use as an example and either have the students create their own hand drawn comic strips or even use bubblr to create a comic strip.

Flickr: Creative Commons

Skiing on the Brain

I have just recently learned that there are six types of Creative Commons on Flickr that basically tell a member how they are allowed to use and share another members pictures that they make available to the public.

A brief overview of Licenses

Attribution License:

Others may use your copyrighted picture but must give you credit

Attribution-NoDervis License:

Others may use your copyrighted picture but only if they use the original (not change it in any way) and give the photographer credit

Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDervis License:

Others may use your copyrighted picture but only if they use the original (not change it in any way) and give the photographer credit for noncommercial purposes only

Attribution-Noncommercial License:

Others may use your copyrighted picture but must give you credit, only for noncommercial purposes

Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike License:

You allow others to use your work (and derived images) for noncommercial purposes but only under a license identical to the original license

Attribution-Sharealike License:

You allow others to use your work (and derived images) but only under a license identical to the original license

Microblogging: A Spiders Web

This week I read two articles about microblogging. The two articles both discussed mircoblogging but using two different ways. The first article about microblogging used a tool called micromobs. The second article used a tool called edmodo tutorial. Both of these articles/videos gave me a better idea of how I could use microblogging in my classroom. All these tools similarly remind me of facebook, or even voicethread, I think microblogging could be used in the same way in the classroom as a voicethread. Here students could share their thoughts and reactions to a topic. Microblogging could also be a way to get information to students, such as if you wanted them to read a post of a professional in a certain field the students could follow that professional and learn from them.

Professionally this could be used to stay current with different educators in the field. You could stay connected with your own staff through microblogging or educators all around the world. Microblogging is a way to create a web, to stay attached and connected to others in the field of education.

If you're going to give them garbage

vs.

On the blog ideaconnect, i found a post called "If you're going to give them garbage". Right away this blog caught my attention, as it contained a youbtube clip from one of my favorite shows The Office. Within this post I found this quote by Alfie Kohn, “Far less interesting to me than whether a student has learned what he was supposed to is the question, ‘Has the child been given something to do worth learning?" I think that this quote is extremely meaningful. It tells a a lot about a teacher. What are you giving your students to do? Is it something worth while that they should be learning, is it interesting to the student, if its not an interesting topic did you make it interesting to the student. Often we blame children for being off task, however I believe that there are many valid reason a child may be off task. I often think to many of my college courses, when I sat there off task. Why was I off task? Was I not interested in the subject, was the lecture important to me? Had I been sitting there too long? Or did the professor present in such a way that I couldn't bare to keep my eyes open another second? I believe this quote is something that all educators need to take into consideration when teaching.

http://ideaconnect.edublogs.org/2010/10/04/if-youre-going-to-give-them-garbage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ideaconnect+%28ideaconnect%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Voicethread 2.0

Voicethread 2.0

I visited the site voicethread 2.0. On this site I can learn more about ways to use voicethread in my classroom. Also, I can connect with other teachers and collaborate on voicethread projects. This site creates a network of learners, therefore expanding my knowledge of voicethread through others experiences.

A Learner is like a cup of coffee

"A learner is like a cup of coffee"

Today learners are very different than even learners of the past. Even as far back as 10 years ago learners were acquiring knowledge differently than they are today. Today learners must connect with people to gain knowledge. Siemens says, “Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).” (Siemens, 2005). This explains that the basis for knowledge and learning becomes experience, and while one person cannot have every experience they must connect with others to learn about certain experiences and therefore gain knowledge.

Siemens also explains in a youtube video titled "The Change of Nature" the importance of

creating a network. Siemens says, "Knowledge is about the distribution that occurs across an entire network".

He goes on to discuss networking with people to create knowledge. In the 21st century networking has become

simple with the use of computers and the internet. People today are able to network much easier than they were

even just 10 years ago.

I believe the learner is like a cup of coffee because people often connect or "network" over a cup of

coffee. Coffee is something in our world that brings people together. In America people have a hard time

meeting just to talk or "network" (and swap knowledge) they must be doing something else, i.e. drinking

coffee. This gives us a reason to sit down and network with other people.

Pay Attention

After viewing the youtube video Pay Attention, I had many interesting thoughts and questions. I loved all the information about our children learning in a technological world. The movie really peaked my interest because I want to find new ways of incorporating technology in my classroom. I loved the idea of using cell phones in the classroom, however I know its not feasible in 4th grade. However, I think it could be more of a possibility in a high school classroom. My question with this is would parents get upset about students using cell phones in the classroom? I think it is important that teachers realize that we need to do a better job at engaging students. One way to reach these students is through technology. Due to the face that technology is so "hot" right now this is a great way to take something that students already know about and love and put it in use in your own classroom.

This is the video Pay Attention that I watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw&feature=related

Also, this video reminded me of another video I watched in a previous grad class. It is also about student and technology. VERY INTERESTING! if you would like to take a look, here is the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl7yozHNHek

Internet Safety

The education of internet safety is of the utmost importance to us as educators. Its great to give children new tools to learn but these new tools also come with responsibility. Due to the fact that the internet can be accessed by virtually anyone from anywhere it is important to teach our children a few simple but important rules when using the internet.

For my children the first rule is never give out any personal information (first and last name, home address, telephone number etc.) due to the fact that they never know exactly who is viewing their blog. Also, students should never say anything through a blog that they would be considered inappropriate or that they wouldn't say in the classroom. Students need to use respect when using the internet. Lastly, students are not to use blogging as an aide to bullying another student.

My districts technology polices states that students will be provided to appropriate access of technology tools in the classroom but they will be used with a focus on educational instruction.

Using Blogging in the Classroom

I currently teach 4th grade and my mind immediately turns to how can I use blogging in my current classroom. I think that there are so many ways I could turn blogging into a useful tool. My kids would be so excited to use a blog, hopefully soon I can implement one of these ideas.

First, I think how blogging could work as a class portal as Richardson discusses in his book. By creating a class portal, all of the classroom information would be available to students and parents alike at the convenience of any internet connection. This could include student expectations, rules, homework, reminders etc. The possibilities are endless. I think that this would especially come in handy if parents wanted to check what their student's homework was for the night.

A second way I could see using blogs in my classroom is for homework assignments. Not only posting what the homework is for the night, but posting the assignment and having students virtually turn in the homework. I beginning to think of a paperless classroom! (ahhh how nice that would be!)

Another idea that I had would be to have students complete writing assignments via a classroom blog. I think that students would be excited about having a published writing assignment where their classmates could comment and respond to their thoughts. I think in my 4th grade class I might have it geared toward a controversial social studies topic such as "Do you think that our New York State government is running an effective state? why or why not?" This would allow students to post varying opinions and use evidence to support their writing. Also, students could respond back to one another.

This assignment would hit many New York State standards for both ELA and Social Studies. I believe that this would include all of the New York State ELA standards, which include:

Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.
Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

Also, the Social Studies Standards that this would include are:

Standard 1

History of the United States and New York

use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 5

Civics, Citizenship, and Government

use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

New Blog

I am trying this out to see if this post works.

See You When We Get There

After reading "See You When We Get There" by Gregory Michie what were your initial thoughts? Do you agree that these teachers were "teaching for social justice"? What do you think of Michie only interviewing/observing teachers of color? Did this make the book better or worse in your opinion? Do you think white teachers would give a similar or different perspective? How do you think we can get more good teachers in urban/diverse school settings? What can we do as teachers to "teach for social justice"? Feel free to respond to other bloggers posts!