My contribution to the class WebQuest wiki

I contributed to the WebQuest audience page. My contributions were the Bloom's Taxonomy graphic, a link to a brief GRASP overview, and a link to the WebQuest resource page. I also contributed some Role ideas to the Reality TV page.

Chapter #10: Going Beyond the Classroom

"Steer us toward summer and enrichment programs." (p. 179) A lot of learning, if not most learning, happens outside the classroom so find ways to connect this to your subject and students.
This is a good idea but may require more financial resources than are available. With budget cuts and rising gas prices teachers will have to see potential in activities closer to home. The idea of going to the park for science class was great.

Chapter #9: When Things Go Wrong

"Without giving up their human side, teachers have to put aside their fear and do the job, even as their teenagers students test them again and again." (p. 168) On the other hand you do not want to become to buddy buddy because then the students will take advantage of you.
This is a scary place for me. I know that to be a good teacher I am going to have to develop a tough skin and still be nice. I have always bees sensitive and I am not going to be able to allow this in myself anymore. I have to remember it isn't about me... it is about them. Whatever it is, it is about them.

Chapter #8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

In this chapter it was mentioned that "teachers should stay extra aware of the emotional fatigue that language minority adolescents experience every day." (p. 154) The strain of sitting through a class where they don't understand everything they hear is considerable.
This is so true. My daughter couldn't hear the first year of school and the strain of trying to understand what was going on around her was so much that I had to keep her out of school a lot just so she could catch up with herself. It would be the same with students who are still learning English. The uncertainty that adolescents already feel is only multiplied when this stress is included.

Chapter #7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

"Finding real people to come and talk about their experiences makes history come alive." (p. 141) When students can see the material and not just read it they are much more likely to remember and connect with the information.
As I read this I couldn't help but think about my cousin's involvement with the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA) where they reinact the middle ages. I got to go to some of their events when I was in high school and if they were integrated into that unit at school I would have learned so much! There are chapters available all over the United States (each state is part of a country) and the world. Here are a couple links if you are interested.

http://www.sca.org/ (SCA)
http://www.eastkingdom.org/ (Eastern US)

Chapter #6: Motivation and Boredom

"Just teaching "by the book" bores anybody, not only teenagers." (p. 105) We are constantly talking about motivating students and wondering how to do it. A look at what it takes for you yourself to be motivated might be a good place to start looking for ideas.
This is such a simple idea but it seems to be overlooked in a lot of academic circles. I know that if information is in and of itself boring to me (like the study of electricity) then it will take more than reading about the theory for me to understand it. However, if the teacher can bring that knowledge to life and show me how it works then I can be very interested in a topic that I thought that I would never like! It doesn't need a lot of extra work but it may need some movement outside someones comfort zone. Think about it. It really wouldn't be hard to role play a lot of the history that is taught everyday in the classroom. That doesn't even involve technology but could reach so many more students than reading and reciting back facts.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

Have a meaningful product that the group will create and give everyone in the group a specific role. Remember that everyone needes to be assessed individually in comparison tho themselves so assess the individually and the product separatly.
When the students don't feel that that there is a reason for their group work they will not put the effort into it that the teacher wants. It is almost a matter of respect to have a defined product that the students are working on. Students will feel more valued and not like they are wasting their time this way. They also need to know tha tthey are going to be assessed individually so that they have a reason to do their share of the work and not take advantage of the worker bee of the group.

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

The pressures that students feel in regards to school work come from more than just the teacher. Some students are pressured at home by other responsibilities like babysitting or housecleaning. Other students feel pressure from their friends to not worry about classes in order to fit in.
It is hard for teachers to tell why a student isn't doing well unless they are taking a personal interest in their students. Even then it may isn't easy. I really think that if a student is connected to the teacher or the subject in a personal way they will be more able to justify working on what they need to in order to succeed. It is always easier to succeed at something when you are working with someone, especially if it is someone you feel a strong connection to and have a comfortable relationship with.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behavior

One idea in this chapter was to discuss classroom behavior expectations. Expectations vary form teacher to teacher. Give the students a chance to "add their own needs to the list, and come to agreement on conflicts." (p. 38)
While I was in the classroom it was really hard for me to know when to speak to the kids. There is so much variation from teacher to teacher that it doesn't surprise me that the students want to know clearly what is expected of them. The teacher would have to be very careful when allowing students to add to the list. If the teacher is unsure of what they want in their classroom they may be tempted to approve of some things that may be detrimental to the learning in the classroom.

Copyright and Fair Use LR

14. I don't understand this one. Why is it not permissible? The students didn't pay to see the movie, isn't entertainment what movies are all about? Why does the school need to pay a licence? This must pertain to more than just Disney. Does this mean that a student can not bring in a movie to share on a fun day? As you can see, I have a lot of questions about this. It just doesn't make sense to me. The movie is not being copied, there is no fee to watch it. Does this mean that I need to get a $25 licence if my children have friends over for a movie night? Do the Girl Scouts have to pay this fee? I think I am going to go review the handy chart for teachers that outlines the fair use rules. Maybe I will understand a little better after that.

Copyright and Fair Use SR

1. (student snaps CD in half) I was not sure if copying these kinds of things would be legal. It makes sense that it is but making sense does not mean that it is allowed. It's interesting that it should be done in the library, I wonder if this is true for personal CD's.

2. I thought that putting Photoshop on the centeral server would be illegal. It doesn't sound like a good idea because it seems like it would be too easy to abuse this set up. It would be safer to put it on one computer that everyone has access to and do a sign up sheet!

6. I didn't realize that you can't put these back up on the web. So, if you create a project using downloaded material don't post it to the Web? I think we did that with our MEL project and our Team project... is that what they are talking about?

8. I didn't understand this one, I thought that the student was downloading actual Taiwanese music, :) silly me! Yes, I can see how illigitimate downloading could be a hazard from Web sites like the one described. There are a lot of other places that you can get music and if you go throug WalMart it's only 89 cents a song!

11. (copying PBS Frontier House) I understand that video can be pulled into class projects but this doesn't sound like an educational use. I don't mind using media in fun and creative ways but when people start running others down is not a good example to encourage, especially in a school setting where you should show respect for everyone, even if you do not agree with them.

12. (Psycho copying from tv) I didn't think that this was going to be ok. If the teacher had copied the movie for use at home would that have been legal or is it only legal because it was for a school project? Do copies have to be destroyed after they have fulfilled their educational use?

15. (Teacher made a compilation of movie clips) Does this mean that you can't use clips in the classsroom? I don't understand what he did, did he put clips together, what was it that he did wrong? It sounded like a good idea to me!

16. I didn't realize that you can legally use content from a movie that you rented, I guess I thought that if you owned it maybe that would be different. It is too bad that the movie companies are being so stuffy. I like the point that the author made about NOT copying movies for use at home.

How to help someone use a computer

My goal is to help them be more able to solve their own problems, let them take notes. I should keep telling myself this because there are many times that I want to be the one that knows it all... the sage on the stage. I could really relate to the rule about letting people do all the typing. So many times I when I am trying to learn something the person "teaching" me tries to do all the work and I end up not learnint anything! If I can do all the typing and understand each step I wouldn't need help next time.

We could have used this information in our presentation by having some of the students actually be the ones taking video and actually doing the file transfers. This would have made it much clearer at least to the students that were involved in the presentation!

http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html

Creativity Exercises

To exercise my right brain I meditated and did some yoga breathing.
To exercise my left brain I helped Heather with her math homework.
c. read something humorous MY ASSIGNMENT NOTEBOOK jk
d. read something inspirational MY BIBLE

Web 2.0 Educator

I chose to look over Cool Cat Teachr Vicki Davis' web site. Wow, she seems like an awesome teacher, full of energy, and amazing knowlege of "tech stuff". She is definatly pro technology for teaching and has some definate opinions regarding the public education class rooms. She has so many technological resources available to her, that I can take advantage of, that it blows my mind. I don't understand what most of them are about! She is a big fan of teachers connecting with teachers in order to share information and believs that these self made connections will be a the base for teachers taking advantage of the technology that is so slow to intigrate into classrooms through the educational system. She mentions something called WOW2 that I would like to know more about. I'm not sure what it is but I clicked on it and a little radio type think popped up with audio of what sounded like a meeting of people all around the globe. I know someone was on from Wells, Maine. I am going to look into this more later, as I am at home and it is having a hard time getting through my dial up system! I am really glad I checked into Vicki's web site. There is a welth of information here for any teacher that is searching for more. Her strength is definatly technology for teachers.

Foucs the Nation

I chose to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” on global warming and did some online research into some of the controversy around it.

• I learned that there is consensus in the scientific world that there is climatic change occurring.
  
• There is controversy over how quickly some of the events in this movie may take place.
  
• Though An Inconvenient Truth is very “global warming” oriented there are ways to read the scientific facts to argue the opposite view point.

I have had a hard time focusing on “global warming” because of the opposing views that are out there. There is so much information that can be interpreted in many ways and contain so many variables that in makes my mind swim. I know this seems politically incorrect and naïve, by guconsidering how persuasive Mr. Gore is in this movie, but this move can only be shown in England schools if it is accompanied idance giving the other side of the argument. I really want to know for sure and not be motivated by emotion only with no scientific backing.

With that said, I believe that it is very important for us to take care of the Earth and be good stewards of the assets that we have, and we have not been doing a very good job. Some of the suggestions in the movie are very good, including recycling, and reducing CO2 emmisions.

Here are a few ideas that I have for integrating environmental consciousness into my class room:
Have the students research current and past environmental regulation and the impact on the local, state, federal, and national levels, including impact on other cultures.
Students can learn about a specific issue and write to an appropriate government official with concerns, thoughts, or improvements that can be made.
On way that I think has great potential is to have students choose a political or activist organization like the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, or the Sierra Club and research or join it. They can learn how these groups operate, what they do to affect government, citizens, and popular view.

Type I and Type II Technology

Type I technology is the use of technology in the class room to assist in teaching the carriculum that could be taught without the technology. The technology is there to use but it doesn't enhance the learning.

• writing a report
• practicing typing
• using an on line thesorous/dictionary

Type II technology is the use of technology in the classroom to teach a carriculum that can not be taught without said technology. It us used to understand the concepts and build projects in was that students can not do without the technology.

• following the Olympics or specific Olympian live time during an Olympic year
• learning about weather patterns by following current weather maps from local and national or even international weather satillite stations
• follow a Presidential candidate through thier campaign trail gaining access to multiple viewpoints and many different sides of the candidate than would be available in the media like radio, news paper, and television

Cite:
"http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~overallt/melwebquest/"

My MEL Experience

• Inviting Relationships and School Climate- I love History but before I had even taken the required classes I had decided not to do the work, only as much as I needed to get by. Why did do that? Well, I watched the teacher belittle another student in front of everyone. Because the teacher chose not control his own anger he embarrassed and harassed the student and completely disrespected him. I decided that that teacher did not deserve my respect
• Connections & Context: Making Instruction Engaging- My favorite teacher really taught to my style. I don't think he even knew that he was, it was just his teaching style. I learned more in his class and looked forward to it. We did a lot of research but he put everything into real life context. I especially liked his stories about hiking the whole Appalachian Trail and connecting his experiences to environmental issues or geography.
• Making it Interesting- There wasn't any information on this link but just the title brings to mind a field trip that my class took to Reid State Park. The teacher did not let us run all over everywhere. We had to map out the rocks and find out what lived at different levels. The activities that he provided guided me to learn so much more than I would have learned just walking around and observing what was around the area.
• Differentiated Instruction- This concept wasn't being used when I was in school but it is so interesting to see it being integrated into my daughters elementary classroom. There are different stations for a variety of learning styles and they have to rotate through all of them, giving them equal exposure to things that they are good at and also to learning styles that might not be so comfortable. At one station children pick a book to read together while listening to it through head phones. Other stations includes quiet games, reading to self, and creating an art piece among others.
• Schools that Work- My daughter was able to participate in a looping program for Kindergarten and First Grade. She had the same teacher and the same group of children for both years. I can see the solid base that she gained from this experience. The children integrated into the First Grade school year much more quickly than their peers who were getting used to a new teacher, new schedule, and new expectations.

Visual 9

Social 16

Physical 10

Aural 11

Verbal 16

Solitary 7

Logical 10

Chapter #2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

“But in general students want teachers to put good teaching ahead of popularity.” p. 19 “Students respect teachers who are comfortable with themselves.” p. 23 In other words, it is more important to be a teacher with integrity than a teacher who is friends with everyone.

These are two areas that I am afraid that I will fake to my own detriment. I have forever been worried about what other people think of me and I need to give that up! I will not be able to survive high school if I allow insecurities to get in the way of my teaching.

Chapter #1: Knowing Students Well

“Teachers can learn much of what they need to know about students simply by asking them. Giving out a questionnaire on the first day of a new class shows a student that a teacher cares about their strengths, interests, backgrounds, and concerns about the subject area of the class.” p.4 Everything that I need to know is right in front of me. What easier way to find out about the students than to ask?

I noticed this part of the reading because I have already been thinking about questionnaires and journals for my classes and I found both of these ideas in the first chapter! For me, there was a sense of affirmation that I am on the right track when I read these ideas. I like that there are sample questionnaires for both students and teachers provided to think about.