Connecting


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6/29 Social Networking Ning: Some time ago, I read an article in which the author reflected on how technology has influenced and altered student’s literacy practices. His argument was that sites like MySpace or Facebook (and I would add Ning) have changed the way young people communicate and write. He points out that today’s technologies have many of the adolescents reading and writing far more than they were 20 years or even a decade ago. The way students manipulate and play with their identities while using the online technologies is another important point in the author’s discussion. He stresses that these developments allow students to create particular identities in writing which is as old as literacy itself. Novelists, playwrights, and other writers have been creating identities on the page for hundreds of years. His final thought on the topic is that today’s teachers should not be overwhelmed by the way the online world influences the development of literacy skills in the students, but they should figure out ways of connecting their pedagogies with this rapidly evolving situation. As I play with this Ning site, I think about how differently my current students learn from the ones I used to teach 13 years ago when I began my teaching career. Today’s adolescents are technologically influenced and the way we teach should be planned accordingly. I think that by using online alternatives in the classroom for literacy skills enhancement we, teachers, are matching our students’ interests (motivation) to one of the most important teaching tasks, helping our students to improve their performance in reading and writing. I am certain about the tremendous amount of time my students spend on the internet, how much they enjoy browsing through different websites, and participating in chat rooms to make new acquaintances. I sure can take that and build on it to teach both traditional practices of reading and writing and new literacy practices. 

6/26 Photo Story:
 * This software is just perfect for students to create travelogues. They would be able to share pictures of a place they have visited and share the experiences they may have had.
 * In a classroom with students coming from different countries, they could teach the class about their countries of origin. This will promote creativity as well as language development and would work just right for shy students.
 * When teaching students to follow directions, teachers could make a photo story with pictures and directions for students to complete a task. Also, students could be assigned to make a photo story to teach the class to do something following the steps shown in the story.

6/25 MSPower Point:
 * Presentations will work to address the students different learning styles. As teachers, we could introduce, develop, or reinforce any topic using visual and audio cues to make our classes more entertaining.
 * Just as Movie Maker, students could create commercials to advertise a product of their invention. Power Point could be friendlier for students who have not had previous experience using computers. I have faced this with students coming from environments with less opportunities to "play" with technology.

6/24 Windows Movie Maker:
 * One way I have used this software in my class is for book reports. The students were asked to find pictures somehow related to the story, put them together, add captions that clearly show the plot of the story and other elements of literature such as tone, mood, among others.
 * Another way could be when teaching persuasive techniques. I would give a different technique to each group. Their job would be to advertise something or someone (political candidate) using the assigned technique.

6/23 Fair Use and Copyright:
 * These concepts are REALLY important and should be disseminated countywide or even statewide. Last year, the state of Virginia required that everybody should be trained on internet safety. An educational software was purchased to train staff members, students and parents. This software included videos and an online quiz.I would say, the same could be done in order to learn more about fair use and copyright.

6/22 IGoogle:
 * IGoogle offers a wonderful opportunity for teachers to have all their favorite websites in one place. Both, teacher and student resources could be located in one single site, which could be easily accessed.
 * A teacher could create one site for specific purposes also. I'm thinking, for a unit on research, when a teacher needs to provide so many guidelines, all the necessary websites could be posted on an IGoogle page for students' reference.

6/19 Inspiration: I have had the opportunity to play with inspiration for a while as my school district purchased it a couple of years ago. I have used it in these ways:


 * to create introductory mind maps for the units we will be studying
 * to have students brainstom ideas on a particular topic so the map could be later used as the starting point for a written composition
 * to teach students how outlines work and to have them make outlines

6/18 Incorporating Audacity to the ESL classroom:
 * As it was already mentioned in class, this program would work wonderfully for ELLs who are shy and and don't feel comfortable speaking in public. Teachers (and students) could assess phonemic awareness and later, reading fluency.
 * For students that are into technology, they could enhance Power Point presentations or videos on any subject matter.
 * By using this technology, teachers could be able to create audiobooks.

6/17 Using Microsoft Office (Word, Publisher, Power Point):
 * I'm going to share a project I developed for the unit on Research.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Your job is to choose a presidential candidate to throw your support behind and research how that candidate gains support. You will use at least three sources to obtain and analyze information about the candidates and put it together in a variety of forms. What follows is a description for every project component. You must obtain three 5’’x8’’ or six 3’’x5’’ note cards for information. They must be from a total of at least three sources. ** Outline ** You must create an outline with the information on the note cards. This can be typed (using Microsoft Word software). ** 1st Draft Report ** Your 1st draft can be typed or hand-written. It must be turned in as a hard copy. It must be no less than one full page hand-written (single-spaced) or typed (double-spaced) and in a legible font or style. ** Final Report ** Type your final report following MLA format. ** Campaign Power Point Presentation ** You will create a Power Point Presentation, in which you will use an image of your candidate and two types of propaganda used by your candidate that you focused on in your final report.
 * Note Cards **

For this project, I would also have students create a brochure in which they would show their support for a candidate. To do this, they could use Publisher.

6/16 Thinking about Wikis and Web 2.0 :
 * One idea that I think would work pretty well, could be using the school's website or a teacher generated website, to have students participate in an online discussion. A slide show with pictures on a topic could be uploaded to help trigger students' participation. It would be important to set up rules for this discussion. For instance, students would be allowed to agree or disagree with their classmates' opinions but they would have to use aproppriate language when giving reasons.
 * Collaborative story telling could be another interesting idea. I have done this but using posters with pictures or a sentence as a starting point. Using a given picture, students could start writing a story. Each student would have to follow the thread of the story and add to it.
 * Suggest a book or comment on a book read in class! A blog could be used to have students vote for a book they would like to read in class or they could also write reviews for book(s) read in class. This would encourage students to voice their opinion and help them become more critical readers.