Ideas

So my mind is working on this next project and I am a bit befuddled. I think my main goal at this point is to bring some of my technology learning into one of the units I’m doing with teachers. The possibility that comes to mind is a class of grade seven students, with whom we are practicing some of the reading stategies. Working under the umbrella of inferencing, we have been modelling and using the Probable Passage strategy. After trying several sessions together and sharing our gist satements with the larger group, we read the story and see how close we have come. We have been using Patricia Polacco’s books as a basis for this work. So my question is- how do I incorporate technology into this unit? I thought about a Wiki, where students will add in their gist statements for other passages we encounter. We hope to have them all create a Probable Passage with key words from a picture book of their choosing, which they would then exchange with a buddy. It might be of value to add these into the Wiki so others could read and comment. Or am I better off to just add a section to my library blog for this? Mayhap I’m still a little confused as to when to use a blog or wiki for a classroom.

Then my other thought was in regards to the Snow Willow nominees. Several teachers have agreed that part of their Language Arts assignment will be to read one novel and respond on the blog. In re-visiting the Willows site, I remembered that they have already come up with activities for each of the selections. So why re-invent the wheel? Perhaps I could create a link for each book to the activity page and they could choose to complete one. Then we could post their written or visual activities on a wiki. Does anyone have any feedback for me or am I simply blithering in a daze? This particular teacher is not familiar with a Wiki so do I want to take that on as well as my blog?

Help- I need somebody!!

Just kidding- you’re all too busy to think about my problems. Now I must work on my order!!

Back to Books

So here I am- getting back to what for me is still the best- books. I just finished reading John Wilson’s Where Soldiers Lie. Not normally a fan of war stories myself, I have come to appreciate this excellent Canadian author. This book looks at the Indian mutiny in the mid 1800’s. In no way does this glorify war, but is a compelling look at the issues and horrors involved through the eyes of sixteen year old Jack. Allow your mind to be enveloped with the smells, sounds and sights of this old civilization and put it out for your boys to read. Last year I read Four Steps to Death by this same author and was stunned at his ability to provide 3 separate viewpoints on the Battle of Stalingrad. This book has made its way from hand to hand in one of my schools. Historical fiction- what an amazing way to bring our past to life! I know he has written a number of other books as well. I think these would compare well to Arthur Slade’s Meggido’s Shadow, a riveting tale of desert warfare and one of Saskatchewan’s Snow Willow nominees for this year. I also think of Charlie Wilcox by Sharon McKay. I believe these are the books our students need to read- to maybe take away any of the glory of war and bring home the grim realities.

Safety- an issue

In response to Chris’s post on this subject, I don’t think we will actually err on the side of caution. I have watched videos and seen many pictures on blogs of people’s children and my heart always does a little-uh-oh!I understand that simply posting these things is not unsafe but the idea of just ANYONE seeing them is a bit unnerving. It reminds me of a colleague who posted something on her blog that seemed rather condescending to those who were not yet up to speed on Web2.0. When I brought it to her attention, her response was: “But I thought I was writing just to my fellow Web2.0 buddies.” There we have it- informed, intelligent beings who also forget that what you put out there is for everyone to see.

So I just watched the slide show again and once again, it strikes me that, we the teachers, have largely taken on the role that rightly belongs to parents. I don’t mean in its entirety but in partnership. And there is where the difficulty comes in- how to educate the parents! We can easily block sites at school or at the very least, moniter what they are doing on the Web, but it is at home that many of them are involved in socail networks. I read(somewhere) that about 66% are careful about what information they post. Not bad! But what about the other third of our children who may be putting themselves at risk? How do we reach them with the enormity of the conseqences of revealing too much to who knows whom?

A lot to think about- a lot to care about.

Another paper-bag book talk

Download

I also took some stills with the digital camera of the scenes we used for the movie and after some serious fiddling around, was able to produce them as a movie using Movie HD on my Mac at home. So if students (or we) don’t have access to a video camera, this would be another and perhaps simpler possibility. I think I’ll put this on my library blog as well for the students to view and see what kind of feedback I get.

D0 I seem a little hooked on all this? Maybe just a little!!

Citation Generators

Oh, am I loving this!

I used the one that Ruth recommended some time ago, “Bib Me” and found it amazingly easy to use.

But the question still remains- when do we want students to use this? There are still certain skills and understandings about a bibliography creation (or Reference List as we call it in Saskatoon Public) that we would wish students to have. i think of the obvious ones:

• alphabetical order
• locating publisher, place of publication, copyright date
• practicing a prescribed format
• recognizing copyright demands

I believe that I would still teach the grade 3’s and 4’s to learn how to make a basic list with author and title. In the higher grades, when they have successfully shown that they are able to follow correct bibliographic format, I would be inclined to introduce them to an online Citation Generator.

But for me- yes, I’ll be using it. I’ve already practiced it enough.

Okay- how do I link my bib to this? I’ve tried a few things and they don’t work. I can save it to my own drive at work but this blogger does not support uploading it. Any ideas?

• 

  “Gliffy.com - Create and share diagrams online..” Gliffy.com - Create and share diagrams online.. 26 Oct 2007 <http://www.gliffy.com>.

• 

  “ImageChef - Customize Photos, Clip Art.” ImageChef - Customize Photos, Clip Art. 26 Oct 2007 <http://www.imagechef.com>.

• 

  Leavitt, Martine. Keturah And Lord Death. Asheville: Front Street, 2006.

• 

  “searchCrystal.” searchCrystal. 26 Oct 2007 <http://www.searchcrystal.com>.

• 

  Copyright Matters!. Canada: Canadian Teachers Federation, 2005.

Copied and pasted it in- that works- couldn’t see where to save it any other way onto my drive.

Copyright- What matters?

Well, after reading as much information on this as I can process at this time, I probably have more questions than answers. When we were dealing primarily with books and encyclopedias, it was relatively easy to know how to teach about the importance of copyright and what we could and could not do. Since the advent of the Web, there seems to have been a bit more haziness around the issue, with many assuming that its public format meant it was free to be used in any way we saw fit. Cutting and pasting made writing those term papers all too easy,Google images are copied freely and there seems to be many who are not aware that copyright of any work must always be assumed. I read recently that pictures from Flickr were used without permission for commercial gain and that person is being sued. Yet many of those pictures are posted (I believe) with the understanding that they may be used with certain provisos in place. Creative Commons, which I was unfamiliar with, allows persons to license their work for sharing purposes. It also becomes clear that even if sharing is allowed, acknowledgement must still be made. What I do see, though, is that very few people are able to keep up with the changing rules, least of all busy teachers, who still sometimes allow students to “surf” the Web and use whatever they find.

I think what students need to understand is that all published work is copyrighted. They need to know that their own original work is copyrighted. They need to know how to determine if work can be used because of Creative Commons licensing or other sharing privileges. They need to know that the use of any information must still be credited.

I had a brief discussion over lunch today with some of my staff about copyright in regards to the internet. Certainly, very little thought has been given to this issue- in fact, I would say it appears to be more of a non-issue for adults and students alike. Some of the questions raised were in regards to pictures or graphics. May we still use a portion for our own use and may we still use 10% if used for educational purposes?

 I read through Copyright Matters again and the bottom line for me is that I NEED to become more aware of the rules surrounding copyright; for as the booklet states “you are educating the copyright owners and users of tomorrow.”

RSS and other things of consequence.

So here I am at home today with very little voice and directions from my doctor “not to talk.” If you know me at all, you’ll recognize that as a hardship. So I have been giving some little thought to this last assignment, which for me was the easiest so far. That is because after the IT conference last spring, the first thing I did was set up an RSS feed which I have come to appreciate. Many posts I skim as I can’t give a lot of time to them- others I come back to, and some I actually take careful note of. It is a great way to track information and yet, I know that very few people in my world use it. Why am I surprised? Before last year, I had never heard of an RSS feed, or of many of the other terms that are now becoming somewhat familiar. Yet I realize that in this world of Web 2.0, there is a new term around the corner every day. It would make a great science Fiction question: “What if this world of technology came tumbling down?” Anyway, I won’t write the book!

The new site I am truly coming to appreciate is Delicious!! What a great way to bookmark all of the great sites we enjoy- especially for those of us who are in two schools. Often, I’ll bookmark something at one school but have failed to do so at the other.

I have looked at next week’s assignment in a cursory fashion and once more, am overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information on any given topic. I understand  better why students often sit and gaze at a Google screen bemused or simply begin to copy something from the first site they are directed to. Unfortunately, I think the technology is far ahead of our ability to teach students proper searching skills. For myself, although I am working at it, I still feel inadequate and I simply am not able to reach all students. The classroom teacher is trying to keep abreast of curriculum, reporting demands and just the general preparation involved on a daily basis, so cannot be expected to pursue and embrace this learning as well. When was it they said technology would create a shorter workweek and more leisure time? Too much information simply means more  time spent in trying to ferret out what is relevant and what is not.

Obviously, I shouldn’t stay home- I talk too little and think too much!!

Have a good weekend- one and all.

To widget or not to widget?

On Searching

2,138,000 hits on the Grim Reaper on a straight Google search.
1,340,00 on “Grim Reaper other names”
Looking for the plague- asked the question on kartoo.com about the causes of the plague in medieval times- this is amazing- brings up a great map with many links to key topics. What I see here is an enormous time-saver for kids- the main problem with Google is that nothing is vetted and kids just don’t have the skills or don’t care to properly assess the information. This site allows them to immediately go to key and authentic resources. I’m impressed- didn’t know they were out there.

Graphic from Gliffy.com

Webbing Keturah.
I suspect there is a better way to link this but haven’t found it yet. I used Gliffy because it looked easy and indeed, it was- drag and drop. I think this type of organizer would be great for kids to use. It could be the typical book report in a different format with a look at characters, themes, setting, etc. They do need (as usual) an e-mail address and password. I know there are other sites to examine, but I am spending this week in sunny Ontario with my children and three grandchildren. So when it comes to a toss-up between holding my 6 week old Joseph or doing a web assignment in depth, you can guess what I choose every time. I also spend a lot of time reading stories to my 3 year old Grace and my 5 year-old Nathan. Born to be a grandma!!!