bslattery

Do you smell that? Sniff. Sniff. Sniff. It smells like…mmm…FREEDOM! That’s right, it’s finally time for summer! I have just completed my third semester at Mary Wash and having the weight off my shoulders is such an amazing relief. I can’t even tell you. Now I have 4 weeks to concentrate on finding a teaching position for the fall (cross your fingers!) , get ready for my trip to Connecticut, prepare for my fall semester at school and read! I haven’t read a new book in so long. I’ve been reading books I’ve already read before because it doesn’t force me to concentrate on new information. I have a slew of books to read over the next 4 weeks and I have full intentions of reading them…while sitting in the sun. I can’t wait.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you this semester and I look forward to continuing my blog in the future. Have a great summer! Pick up a book and enjoy! If you need any suggestions, just let me know!

Brianne

My mind map is broken into two sections, how this class’ information has benefited me and how it will benefit my students. I highlighted the main things we did in this class, blogging, maintaining a web portfolio, podcasts, screencasts, etc. and their benefits. It took a bit of time to get used to the Webspiration program but it was really neat to use and I really enjoyed it. I’ve already added it to my portaportal and can’t wait to use it again. Click on the link to view my mind map. http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/155527a8f24

Brianne

Unfortunately, this Tapped In event was less than action packed. I actually sat around and waited for about 30 minutes before someone familiar with Webheads even arrived to the event. The host, VanceS, was apparently on vacation and no one really took over hosting duties, so when more Webhead people began arriving, the event became a conversation between themselves. From a voyeuristic stand point, it was a bit interesting, but also a bit boring (I really didn’t care about their up coming vacations…). I’m sorry that this assignment is due tonight at midnight because there were ZERO decent Tapped In events to attend this week and I’m thinking this one was not worth waking up at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday for. The original event I had intended on attending was canceled (of course I didn’t know that until I ditched class early on Thursday to join the meeting and it wasn’t there)…sad.

Anyway, the folks in this event (that are regular Webheads) were nice but talked a techie language I couldn’t read, speak or understand (now I know what it feels like to be an ESL student). There were quite a few other UMW students in the chat, which was funny, but none of them really spoke during the event (just like me). When I was able to keep up with the chat, I picked up on a program called Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and a corresponding program called Superwrite. The Webhead Anitha said that it works in Microsoft Word and helps students understand how to edit their papers and that their first draft is not their final draft. This program seems like something right up my alley and I will definitely be looking into it later.

By the end of the meeting there were a few more good topics discussed, particularly about writing. A funny aside: VoiceThread was mentioned. There were other program names thrown around, such as HotPotatoes and VoxoPop, but I’ll have to look those up to find out what they are. The Webheads were good at mentioning resources, but I’ll have to look through the event script and shift through all the conversation to find the real valuable pieces of information (which were too few and far between) and then do some research myself.

Over all, I received a couple good ideas, but I’m not sure it was worth sitting through. I know this much, I would rather be sleeping…

After visiting http://fno.org/oct05/images.html, I have gained an entirely new perspective on using images in my lessons. I always liked including images for students to view a visual representation of what we’re working on, as well as to allow them a chance to write, freely associating what they see with what we’re learning and continuing to build and connect schemata and activate knowledge. However, FNO has really widened my view on using images in new and interesting ways, like looking at advertising, thought provoking photographs, comparing paintings, analyzing charts and graphs, looking closer at book cover illustrations, packaging, etc. Plus, not only did this site provided me with a new way to incorporate images into my class, it provided me with an array of new Web sites to consider using, all of which I already added to my portaportal so I can easily access them.

I truly believe that using visuals will help students connect to what is being verbally taught and discussed in class. Visuals help make abstract thought more concrete which makes concepts easier to understand, as well as easier to remember. Looking at a picture can spark entirely new avenues of thought and creativity. For years I have been collecting postcards from every place I travel and I’ve picked pictures that really caught my attention. Looking at these postcards always helped me clear my mind, maybe day dream a little, and then get back on task. I think that before I really knew it, I gathered a very useful collection of images that I can easily use in my classroom with writing activities, especially when practicing descriptive and creative writing. Educational opportunities are all around us, we really just need to take a second, look around and recognize the wealth of imformation we have readily available to us and realize how endless the possibilities are…

The Discovery Education’s United Streaming Web site is awesome. They offer so many videos, I didn’t know where to start. I browsed through the Language Art videos for a while and there are a TON of videos that I can easily incorporate into my classroom. Some of the ones I liked the most are meant for lower level grades (K-5) but it would be simple to show parts of a video to introduce a topic or refresh, review, etc. The history videos would also be great to use in order to help set up the context of the time and a place a book was written or written about.

I also practiced downloading and placing video into PowerPoint, which is something I’ve never done before and it was a lot easier than I expected. I downloaded a 10 minute video on Aesop’s fables (which I could easily use in a unit on fables, Greek civilization and literature, mythology, etc.) and simply followed the directions Dr. Coffman provided and it was a success! I would like to figure out how to make the video larger in the PowerPoint slide, but I’ll keep working on it.

After browsing the mashup Web sites, I began to think about how I could use them in my classroom. Mashups may be easily incorporated into a history lesson, but with a little extra creativity, these applications can be used in any classroom.

With British Lit on my mind, I thought that the Flash Earth mashup application would be useful in mapping out the pilgrimage in Canterbury Tales. This would show students how long the trip is from London to Canterbury, as well as help to put  the story into context. It would also be fun to map the adventures of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey or Phileas Fogg’s adventure in Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. Also, these mashup applications would be neat to use in getting to know the location in which the story takes place (like West and East Egg, Long Island created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby). Being able to actually see where the story takes place (even if it’s imaginary but based on a real location) it would help students better visualize the action of the story.

There is a variety of ways to use mashups in the English classroom and I look forward to getting more familiar with the numerous applications out there for me to use. I hope you all has a good mashup experience as well and take advantage of these neat applications. 

Brianne

To be honest, I never gave podcasts a real chance before today. I’m not the type of person to try and keep up with the latest fad and buy the newest technology. I get whatever phone is free with my plan, I have an iShuffle but only because it was a gift. However, just because I don’t care to keep up with the newest trends, doesn’t mean that everyone else is the same way. Quite the contrary, students today are obsessed with their phones and iPods. That’s why when I began searching for podcasts to use in the English classroom, I was amazed at what I found and then the ideas flowed…it will be easy to incorporate podcasts into the classroom and use the student’s love for technology to get them engaged.

I searched on iTunes and iTunes U for podcasts related to language arts, literature, grammar, audiobooks, etc. and I found some great podcasts! On iTunes U, Oxford, Stanford, and Open Universities all provide great podcasts that teach creative writing, tips to start writing, authors thoughts on writing fiction, and much more. Also on iTunes, I found podcasts on grammar (Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing), Vocabulary (Just Vocabulary, Very Vocabulary), works of fiction (The New Yorker: Fiction, PRI: Select Short stories), Audiobooks (The Classic Tales podcasts, Great Books: A Chapter a Day, Audioboks with Anne, The Lost World of Conan Arthur Doyle, etc.), working with English language learners (English as a Second Language, Effortless English, Splendid Speaking) and much more. I could ask students struggling with English to listen to the podcasts and work on their reading, writing and pronunciation. Also, allowing them to hear stories read using audiobooks would help English language learners, as well as poor readers, hear correct pronunciation and help with reading fluency. I could also assign specific grammar podcasts to students after reviewing their papers so they can concentrate on specific aspects of their writing for future progress. I could also use the iTunes U podcasts on creative writing to review and introduce lessons and help construct better student writing. There were also podcasts on authors that I can easily use when giving background on a piece of literature. Plus, all of the podcasts are very well done and can be used as samples for when students make their own podcasts.

This simple search has opened my eyes to the many possibilities of using podcasts and I had no idea the amount of educational podcasts that were out there. In time I am positive that I can find an even wider variety of materials to use and come up with even more ideas on how to use them in the classroom. This was a great activity and I’m very happy to have had the eye-opening experience.

Brianne

Personally, I always wondered how people made those great tutorials where you can see the person’s screen and hear them talk through what they’re doing in order for the viewer to understand. Well, now I know. The magical answer is screencasting. And the Screencast-o-matic Web site (www.screencast-o-matic.com) is even more magical because I have never used a program as easy as this one. It is straightforward, simple and freakin’ awesome. I couldn’t believe it. Figuring out what kind of demonstration to do with Excel and writing a script took me longer than recording and uploading my screencast. Honestly, easiest thing ever.

Now, as for the screencast itself. First, I have a cold, so please excuse my nasally voice. Second, even though I wrote a script, I didn’t stick to it like I should have and I went over the time limit…an extra 17 seconds…my bad! If you care to take five minutes and seventeen seconds out of your life (which I cannot give you back), go to http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cQ1IhUfnc to check out my screencast. I hardly use Excel so I was at a loss for what kind of demonstration to capture (I could use a good Excel for Dummies demonstration if someone needs an idea for their screencast). I built a simple organizer for keeping multiple classes in order. Organizing class assignments per week, dates due, scores received, etc.  It’s simple and it’s the only reason I use Excel, so I do hope you like it.

Screencasting would be an awesome idea to use in the classroom. For English, I could use this to personalize comments on a student’s paper, to teach the stages of writing, different ways to brainstorm, instructions for an assignment, etc. The uses are endless. PLUS, I can easily make screencasting a student assignment. Having students practice writing scripts, teaching the class how to do something, peer edit, etc. I think it’s something they would enjoy too (especially since screencast-o-matic makes it so easy!).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed screencasting. Even though I found planning for it a bit frustrating, it was definitely a learning experience and definitely something that I will use in the future. I hope everyone has a great weekend! Take care.

Brianne

Sorry for the delay on completing Tapped In’s Tips & Tricks Virtual Field Trip, but my schedule has been a tad bit hectic. It’s a good thing that Tapped In offers the session several times a week so I could finally participate in the field trip and discussion. Tips & Tricks was a great way to get to know the otherwise baffling Tapped In Web site. At first, I had a very difficult time navigating this site, but BJB, my chatroom host, showed us how to edit our profiles, find useful resource rooms and chats, how to join groups, and set up classroom communities to include in our classrooms. Once I’m more familiar with Tapped In, I think it will be a great resource to use with my future classes, but it will definitely take a lot more time for me to be Tapped In literate.

I’d like to close this post with my host’s closing message: Tapped In has great potential…limited only by your imaginations. If BJ has faith in this online community, then I do too and I will try my best to utilize Tapped In to benefit my students and enrich my lessons. 

With that, it’s time for dinner. Take care.

Good Morning all. I began my research on fair use, copyrights, and ethics last night, but unfortunately it put me to sleep!  Reading about fair use was boring…at first. (It’s funny how the most boring material can turn out to be the most important.) Violating copyrights is a serious thing and I would never want to be held accountable for an infringement and have to pay up to $150,000! Shoot. I’m a poor graduate student! I don’t have that kind of money (and probably never will!). I guess I never really thought about how often and easy copyrights are violated. However, it’s simple to avoid. The UT System’s fair use rules of thumb are extremely helpful, as was their four-factor fair use test, which I will definitely be consulting in the future.

Also, I found the interactive sites provided by Dr. Coffman extremely useful and will definitely be using them as tutorials for my classes before allowing them to use computers or assigning research papers. It’s important for them to know about copyrights and the extent they will be held accountable for violating one. I will also definetly be emphasizing citing references in their work too. Nothing is worse than a plagiarized paper.

Maybe most importantly, I will have students go through www.netsmartz.org because hearing about children and the dangers they face online is becoming all too common. Posting risque pictures, messages and personal information, cyberbullying other children, and sexting are real problems for our youths and are destroying lives. Children are abducted, pictures are doctored and used to humiliate, children are bullied and commit suicide, texts are forwarded and private pictures are made public. It happens every day and has happened in our communities and children need to know about and how to avoid these real dangers that they face in our technology driven world because it can be a scary world out there.

I have touched on all of these in my power point that I posted on VoiceThread. Please visit http://voicethread.com/share/530191/ to view and I look forward to hearing your comment on it.

Thanks for checking in and have a great Saturday!

Brianne