Final Survey and Course Evaluation!

I have completed the course final survey and university course evaluation!

PLE WEEK SEVEN!!!

I completed all of the article readings.

For my #5 article I choose to read "Rated A" by Marvin J. Ashton.

This article brought up a great deal of many points. It discussed how rating or being graded is an inherent part of our society today. In school we all strive to get A's for grades,but the focus on the world has shifted away from A Grades to X rated movies or books. Society is shifiting away from what is good and wholesome and producing increasing and alarming numbers of movies, books, and images that are not wholesome. A and x are almost at opposite ends of the spectrum, and the article forces us to reflect on what end of the spectrum you will ultimatley stand on.

This article provides flat out suggestions for parents, children and youth. So if I follow what the article suggests, as a parent I am encourgaged to be concerned and involved with what my children view or read. I am encouraged to help them pick out uplifiting media pieces for them.

As a youth I am encouraged to take the time and consider what I am watching, viewing or reading.

When families and friends shun x rated films, they are essentially turning away from Satan and towards the Lord. When everyone is united in a common good the Lord will bless them.

I watched a variety of different clips.
I think that I enjoyed watching those found on Netzsmartz the best. The BYU animation one was interesting. I also watched portions of the frontline broadcast, which was really interesting. These clips have helped make me just aware of technology my future students will be. While I like to consider my self fairly technology savy, I know how to text, use facebook, send emails, and use dvds the students now are so much better acquainted with technology then I am. Technology will be an extremely beneficial tool to use in the classroom.

I shared some of the Netzsmartz resources with my 16 year old sister. This was a postive experience,while my sister rolled her eyes at me claiming to alreay know internet safety I think that she enjoyed the experience and learned new things.

I have posted links to some of these resources.

Book Report Format

Book Report Format

You will make a video using either Windows Movie Maker or I Movie to present your book report to the class. We will review how to use these technology skills in class. If you have further questions you are welcome to talk to me before or after class or during lunch.  Our computer lab specialist is also a wonderful resource and can answer any questions as well. We will be working on this project for 3 days in class, if you need more time you will need to come before or after school. This project should be a fun way to share your book with the class. Please feel free to be creative and try new ideas. Your project should be no shorter than 3 minutes and no longer than 7.

 

Your project must include the following:

• The title and author of the book
  
• A character analysis- 8 pictures or images that remind you of the character, you must also include 3 quotes from the text to support your claims
  
• Setting- 1 picture that depict the setting of the novel
  
• A brief summary of the novel. You can do this trough pictures or words. You need to have a 500 word summary or 8 pictures.
  
• Your rating of the novel, (one is the best, five is the worst)
  
• One area of exploration- This is your experimental aspect of the presentation.  You should research one area of the novel that you would like to learn more about. For example, if you read The Lightning Thief, you could do additional research on Greek mythology. Or if you had read The Three Musketeers, you could do additional research on Cardinal Richelieu.  You can explore, inquire, or research on any aspect of the novel, but you must explain how it connects your overall understanding of the text.

Be sure to add narration or sound effects or music to your video.

 

Remember to give appropriate credit to the sources that you use.

Most importantly have fun!!!!

 

Content Area Project

While there are so many useful and fascinating technology tools that could potentialy be used in the classroom, I am really intriqued by the idea of creating a digital storyboard. This is a powerful tool that I believe has the potential to impact student's writing. There are numerous ways that digitial storyboards can be integrated into an English course curriculum. For the purposes of this assignment, I will be exploring the use of using Movie Maker to have students create a digital story. Students get tired of doing the same old formats and projects for book reports. I am interested in having students use Movie Maker as a tool for presenting their book reports. This would help meet several curriculum requirments including: 10th grade English Standards 3a) Understand that language enhances and identifies human beings as meaning makers. 3f) Understand that language conveys the depth of human experience, evoking both emotion and reason. 6b) Understand that writing is a process of skills, strategies, and practices for creating, revising, and editing a variety of texts. Objective 3a) a. Examine the relationship between oral and written narratives. b. Analyze facts, events, or ideas to create meaning. In order to show the relevance of the project, I wll be turning in a sample of what a student project could look like. I also have attatched a copy of the assignment sheet that would be handed out to stduents.It is posted in the blog above as a google doc. Technology helps to compliment the knowledge and explication of books. It also allows students to explore multiple skills at multiple times. Technology showcases these skills.

These two tools were really cool to learn about. I have never used either of the tools before, so it took me awhile to figure out how to use them. The google viedo chat was interesting to use, but I think I preferred the toxbox, because of the timing delay. This tool could be used in many different ways throughout the classroom. When students were absetn it would be easy to fill them in by using tobox, as well as communicate with parents. Difficult concepts could also be clarified by using the toxbox. Oh, and taking screen shots is really cool!!!

Screen shots and more!

TPACK contains three different sections including PK, CK, and TK. PK knowledge is all about knowing about general teaching skills. CK pertains to having knowlege realted to a certain content. TK entails having the technological knowledge or skills that will allow you to use technologies. It is mainly concerned with how to support specific content areas. An example of this include using powerpoints

TPK is the understanding of how technology can be used in general areas. This means, how it can be applied overall, but not to a specific content area. In English I might use TPACK to help advance primary research of older texts in archives or scan images of older texts that sutdent's would not be able to view otherwise. IN TPK, I liked the example of powerpoints- they are good for just about every subject and help 'spice up' presentations.

Wow! Look at that!

There were a lot of new tools that were really cool to learn about. Learning how to create a website was extremely cool. I can definetly see myself creating a class website when I start teaching. Here is a link to my class website. It still needs a lot of work before it actually looks close to being a website. So, this was probably the most useful skill I learned.
Embedding stuff is always somewhat tricky for me to figure out, but the tutorials were really helpful. Learnig about qualtirx was also really interesting, and will be helpful in conducting reserach and assessing students efforsts or preparation points. Discussion boards are of course always helpful, and are great for short analytical responses.
The viedo communication has proven to be rather tricky, I think it is because I have never used that kind of technology before.

Multimedia Project!

My Multimedia Project...

Before starting this assignment, my group had several different ideas for how we could in corporate media into the classroom. We considered creating a book trailer, or using various advertisements in order to teach students the persuasive power and role of the thesis statement. However, we eventually settled on using various movie clips in order to teach the heroic journey to students. This could be accomplished with almost any movie, however, for the purpose of this assignment we picked Harry Potter. Understanding the heroic journey directly corresponds to multiple curriculum requirements.
9th grade Objective 3
a) Describe how conflict, character, and plot work together
b) Explain how the character is developed through implication and process
c) Analyze how setting contributes to characterization, plot or them.
The Utah Core Curriculum standards can all be found through the following link
http://www.schools.utah.gov/

The Storyboard

My Discovery of an RSS Feed

Before this course, I was not aware of what an RSS feed was. I realize now, that an RSS feed is an extremley beneficial tool and resource for educators. As an english teacher, I will be able to use the RSS feed as a resource for recieving updates on the latest education journals, and to recieve updates on new young adult fiction novels. It can serve as a resource in helping me stay current on the latest teaching models and strategies.

Before the Journey Begins...

Technology is not my friend. While we may get along on the surface, deep down we don't really understand one another.

I have a fairly adequate background with technology. I can complete basic technological tasks in order to make my day more convenient. I have taken several technology classes throughout my career as a student. These classes have given me the skills necessary to navigate my way through Word, Power Point and Excel fairly efficient and quickly. Although I was launched into the email and Internet world somewhat slower than my friends, I quickly learned to utilize these skills into my daily life. I am able to complete research and find answers to questions that I have using the Internet.

While I have a basic understanding of technology, I am not familiar with the fancier aspects of it. I can perform simple tasks, but know relatively little about some of the newer and fancier technological innovations. I am excited to take this course and become comfortable enough with technology to apply it in a classroom setting.

In the Beginning...