Meganv702's Blog

If anyone is searching for an animoto referrel code, you can use mine. This will get you a discount and me three free months of Animoto.

My code is xscyavmj

Thanks!

You can view our video clip assignment on Kathleen’s blog.

Thanks!

There are some great resources for teachers in the resources pages at the GA Standards Web site.

Under the category of “Educational Resources,” for example, there are a lot of technological resources such as hippo campus at Georgia Virtual School.  This Web site does not have resources for English, which seems pretty strange, but just about every other subject has interactive presentations with annotated photos, quizzes, texts, and I even saw some lyrics to a song that was applicable.  The site has resources for several levels of each subject, including AP.  I like the slick graphics and think it would just work well overall with keeping students’ attention and allowing for exploration.

Thinkfinity.org is another great Web site link on this page.  This site has a lot of information for students, educators and parents.   There are lesson plans for teachers.  Students can find entertaining and interactive games to help them study and learn information.   The goal of these activities is to help students’ literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving.  Thinkfinity also has other sites as content partners like the Smithsonian Museum for Natural History.  I like this site in particular because you can locate exhibits traveling near you that  might relate to what’s being taught in the classroom and view online exhibitions as well.

The Teacher Tools for Integrating Technology section of the resources page is the one I found the most interesting.  One of the sites it links to, ReadWriteThink had great lesson plan ideas for high school English, including incorporating Wikis to catalogue protest songs about war, poverty, sexism, etc. such as Kanye West’s “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.”  Students would analyze lyrics, answer questions, and collaborate on the class wiki to gather and report information.  It was suggesting a lesson like this would tie into To Kill A Mockingbird.

Some of the resources, such as those for Gifted Students, contain FAQs and other information developed directly by the GA Standards.  There are links to information about tests such as the EOCT and CRCT developed by the GA Standards.

Overall, there is so many resources on this Web site that I kind of got information overload.  You can find anything from GA school Web sites to what the Response to Intervention process is.

A common thread in many of these sites is that there is information and activities not only for educators but for parents and students.  There seems to be a lot more valuable information than I assumed would be on this site.  I would encourage people to view it and I know I will definitely investigate it more and probably get a lot of use out of it myself.

I really enjoyed readying Literacy for the 21st Century because I agree with everything the article says.  I really believe that you really have to either embrace technology in order to succeed in our modern day society.  One of the things that I hadn’t really thought as much about as much as some of the other ideas presented was the role of media literacy in our central democratic process.

In a time when candidates are elected through Web sites and 30 second commercials, and wars are fought in real time on the Internet and TV, a unique role of media literacy is to prepare citizens to engage in and contribute to the public debate.

I think this idea is particularly interesting in light of the 2008 Presidential Election.  While candidates have had Web sites and have been featured in commercials for a pretty large amount of time, this election saw an explosion of messages in other online formats, such as social media. 

I’m not really into politics but you have to give Obama props for social media use in his campaign as a way to engage others to contribute to democratic debate.  Forrester research (that I can’t really cite since I no longer work at the company that paid to have access to it) found that social media users are often early adapters to new ideas or technology, spend more money, have higher affinity for and loyalty to a brand/product/person and are more engaged with them those brands/products/people those who are not social media users. 

Obama tapped into this target audience with a cross-platform social media campaign that he used to raise funds, promote his campaign platforms, answer questions, provide information, etc.  Not saying that how many fans you have on a Facebook page or how many videos you have on YouTube makes or breaks elections, but Obama has his own channel on YouTube, with 1,847 official Obama-sponsored/approved videos and has 6,403,492  fans on his Facebook  page while McCain does not have a YouTube channel and has 544,726 fans on his Facebook page.  Debates between voters on both sides developed on Obama’s blog, Facebook page, Twitter, and his other social media sites.  Citizens were expressing their ideas and opinions and thinking analytically and creatively about concepts, some of the goals of media literacy.

There is also a ton of content created by everyday people using social media such as YouTube as a forum for debate by either posting speeches, interviews, debates, etc. or even satirizing the candidates using pop-culture heavy hitters such as the Simpsons  or Saturday Night Live.  While these vidoes might have appeared first on television, their inclusion on a comments-enabled site allows for citizens to participate in a way TV does not allow and illustrate their higher-order critical and creative thinking skills.

So for whatever reason you want to learn about the Fox Trot.  Do you look in a print Encyclopedia, such as the Encyclopedia Americana, or do look online on Wikipedia or the Encyclopedia Britannica?

Each have their strengths and weaknesses.

If reading the Encyclopedia Americana in print, it only allows for one meaning of the word “Fox Trot” – the dance.  This would be a good source of general information.  The Encyclopedia Britannica is similar in description.  If using Wikipedia to find information about the fox trot, to contrast, you would find there are many possible meanings of “fox trot” including a style of music, a 1976 film, a horse gait, a submarine, or an album by Genesis.  As new meanings to this word develop in popular culture, everyday people can add these meanings to Wikipedia.  This is a definite strength compared with the print Encyclopedia Americana, as it takes more time to generate encyclopedias and they might have outdated information (our version was from 1999).  Wikipedia also has more detailed information about the dance the “fox trot” in comparison with the other forms.  Wikipedia is more of a living, breathing document as opposed to a stagnant record of information.

Both the Encyclopedia Americana and Britannica are succinct and convey information without separate categories such as “origins,” “how to do the Fox Trot,” “History,” etc.  Wikipedia separates a topics within the entry; therefore, it is easier to quickly find exactly the information you need. 

The Encyclopedia Americana obviously cannot support hyperlinks while Wikipedia has many and the Encyclopedia Britannica has a few.  Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica allow for edits in different ways.  Unlike Wikipedia, where anyone can edit any entry at any time, the Encyclopedia Britannica allows for people to leave comments that can then be reviewed by editorial staff members and changes can be made based on their assessments.  Wikipedia is participatory, as made evident by not only the way entries are created/edited but also the record it keeps of when changes were made and discussions as to why those changes were necessary.

Overall, my favorite word is free.  Wikipedia is free.  Encyclopedia Britannica has certain free entries you can view but they bother you with an annoying and persistent pop-up asking you to join (i.e. pay) for their information.  I’m also sure that print Encyclopedia is out of my price range if its weight is any indication of its cost.  In my opinion, Wikipedia had the most information and was organized in the most useful way.  Win win.

Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, takes the cake for the most profound quote I have read this week:

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.  That’s what we’re doing. 

Finally people are acknowledging the power of the Wiki.  I’ve fought countless professors to no avail, trying to explain the value of  Wikipedia as a legit source (and if not, at least as a beginning source to find more references).  I want to e-mail those professors immediately and tell them to read Richardson’s Wiki chapter.  I mean, if it’s good enough for Steve Jobs, it’s definitely good enough for me.

It is extremely important that Richardson squelches skeptics’  fears by providing concrete examples of Wikipedia’s accuracy and quickness in finding erroneous information, such as University of Buffalo Professor Alex Halavais testing Wikipedia.  The rapidity in which quality content can be assembled is made evident as well  in his example of the entry created for the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004. 

The other thing that struck me the most about this chapter is Richardson’s predictions for the future:

In the era of the Read/Write Web, we are all editors, and we must all become skilled at doing that work.  As these tools become more and more accessible, and as they continue to foster the publication and sharing of reliable information, it may not be long until traditional textbooks will fade into the background (p. 62).

The world’s first paperless classroom was implemented on May 25, 2009.  Although perhaps easier to accomplish this feat as it is a math classroom, it seems entirely feasible to create an English classroom that is paperless as well, especially given technology such as wikis.  Under Arnold’s lead, the entire state of California is aiming for paperless schools (all subject areas) as well.  

Although it seems almost incomprehensible to live in a world where books are online or carried around on technological gadgets such as a Kindle, I think it is entirely possible.  With growing environmental awareness it could happen quicker than we think.

Anyway, I think the overall message I took away from today’s reading is that “everyone together is smarter than anyone alone” (Richardson, p.57). 

One of the things that struck me most about the reading for 6/11 is Richardson’s idea that a blog is a public sphere and must be treated with discretion and care and many teens appear to not be taking this into account.

What’s somewhat discouraging, to me at least, is that these teenagers use these sites more as social tools than learning tools, and that their behavior is sometimes reckless.  There are continuing stories in the media heralding the dangers of blogs as resources for predators, and about teenagers divulging too much of themselves (in text and photo) online. – pg. 20

He continues to say that these students are “journaling” more than “blogging.”  I would have to disagree that the types of blogs he is talking about here, (pg. 19) such as Facebook, MySpace, etc. are in fact “blogs” at all.  They are classified as social networking sites.   These social networking sites are designed to have a social nature and do not seem to be intended for learning purposes.  But that’s a technicality and might just be me getting on my social media soapbox.

Anyway, there are countless news articles about the dangers of sharing too much of yourself on the Internet.  This article from the University Daily Kansan  talks about these dangers expanding into adult life in the form of employers making hiring and firing decisions based on information found online about employees.  An employee at my last internship was fired simply because her Facebook status said that she was “bored” at work so I’ve seen the ramifications of too much information firsthand. 

Richardson says that by giving students their own sites, there must be a discussion about how much is really their own (pg. 46).  I agree with Richardson that it important that there is some student personality added to the blog to increase their investment in the blog.  If photos of things they like or quotes they find interesting or some personal entries, for example, aren’t allowed at all, I think it would make the student feel hindered from creativity and revealing his or her true thoughts/feelings/opinions on the blog.  I don’t think that the classroom blog should ever appear like a typical MySpace page though, and obviously restrictions should be different according to the students’ ages.

While there are many things  that would have to be discussed in detail with students about blog safety, I think the pros of classroom blogging definitely outweigh the cons.  We live in a world where technology is everywhere. Adapting to this reality will keep our teaching styles current and relevant and engage students in ways they can relate to and are accustomed to while simultaneously getting them truly involved in the subject matter.

Sidenote – I think it’s hilarious that a blogging platform does not recognize the word “blog” in its spellchecker.

I have never had a blog.  Now I have one.  Needless to say,  I am pretty excited.  It will make responding to homework assignments that much more interesting.

Please join me as I trek through the world of Digital Technology in English/Language Arts and the Master of Arts in Teaching program in general.  I hope I learn a lot and can keep my head above water…

Our first assignment was to create a survey on SurveyMonkey.com.  My survey is entitled “Your Life Through Music.”  Feel free to take it.

And if you would like to get to know me (the real me – not the professional me) please click on the “about me” page to the left.

That’s all for now.