U8A1 Using Facebook in an English class

I was immediately interested when I came across a literature activity using the social bookmarking site: Facebook.  Mr. Featherstone, an English teacher from Canada, had his students create a facebook page as if they were their favorite character from a novel they read in class. Students were prompted to create the page, as if they were the character including pictures, likes, dislikes and any links that would apply. 

As a teacher of language arts, I have seen this activity completed in numerous traditional ways such as writing a letter as the character to the readers, creating a character map, new book cover with information from the character, or even writing a poem as the character. 

With using the social networking, or other traditional ways, students are implementing active learning and higher order thinking skills. However, I believe high school students would be very motivated to complete this assignment using facebook as it is a very creative and unique assignment.  Students enjoy using technology and are already very savvy when it comes to facebook, so I think the finished projects would be very thorough. I also think it provides opportunities to share and peer review each other’s work rather than the traditional method of standing in front of the classroom. This could be intimidating for some students.

It is important to note, that Mr. Featherstone writes in bold, that students using facebook need to be appropriate and report something to him if it is inappropriate for a classroom setting.  He encourages students to leave messages for each other.  Although, Mr. Featherstone didn’t mention this, I think it would be very interesting for students to use the status option provided on facebook as the character they chose for their page.

Although, I think this is a very creative way to get students thinking about a novel they read, I find that this would be difficult to implement in the typical classroom.  Although, I believe students would really enjoy this assignment, the risks may outweigh the benefits. This includes inappropriate messages/comments, disapproval by parents and administrators.  I also think this is a heavy task for the teacher to take on as he or she immediately becomes a “monitor.”

I believe this activity could be modified using a blog instead of facebook. Students could create a blog as their favorite character, where they could add pictures, bios, and links that apply. I believe this activity may be more acceptable for the school setting, because students view facebook as a social opportunity. A blog may help students still become interested and motivated in the task at hand, but also provide more reasoning to take it seriously and remain appropriate. Students could still reply to each other’s work like they were able to do using facebook.

I also believe using a blog would allow this activity to be geared towards elementary students as well, where as the facebook activity just applied to high school students. Teachers could actually implement this activity on a classroom blog. This is how I would use this activity in my classroom.  

Online Presentation tool- Prezi.com

I chose to use Prezi.com for my online presentation tool.  It is quite simple to use as you begin creating your presentation by brainstorming and placing your thoughts and ideas onto a grid. Once your ideas are down, you can add more text, images, frame sections, and edit the font by choosing colors and style. Once your information is placed on the grid, you are then able to design a path for your presentation to follow. This is simply done by clicking on “path,” and clicking your mouse on what you would like presented 1^st -2^nd-3^rd-4^th-5^th and so on.

When you press the arrows provided during the presentation,  it follows the order you selected when you created the path. This is really neat, because each section is emphasized by zooming in and before going to the next section with the click of the arrow presentation key.

I was really impressed with this tool. I believe this tool would be motivating to students, as it chunks material and allows you to focus on one section at a time. I like the idea of presenting different sections however having it still in one place rather than placing it on slides like a PowerPoint presentation. I believe this is helpful for students to see the big picture.  Students are very familiar with graphic organizers and this almost mimics one.

I think it is wonderful that the presentation could be viewed by going to a link or embedded into a blog rather than needing to go to a specific drive on a computer network like you would with a PowerPoint. With this, students can access these presentations from home to study or review content material. I also like that students could access this during flex grouping in the classroom and as an individual activity to reinforce and allow for repetition of weak skills.  

I look forward to continuing to practice and creating presentations using prezi.com.  It can definitely be used across subjects, grade levels, whole group  and individual instruction, and at school or even at home!

Go to http://prezi.com/learn/  to learn more about basic steps and guidelines, and to view some amazing prezis that have been created. This is feature is provided by the site authors.

Long I Presentation using -Prezi.com

I used the presentation tool, Prezi.com, to create a presentation on long i spelled igh, i-e, and y. Students can use this in the primary grades to reinforce vowel sounds. It provides repetition and review. This could be carried out as a whole group instructional activity to support a phonics lesson or individually to stregnthen weak skills.

http://prezi.com/axfdb3entxom/decoding-and-identifying-words-containing-long-i-sounds-in-poems/

I know this site allows for embedding but couldn't figure out how to do this, so I provided a copy of the link.

Personal Narrative Podcast for Fourth Grade

http://dpudles.podomatic.com/entry/2010-10-24T09_04_42-07_00


This podcast was created to help students understand what a personal narrative is and review an example of a personal narrative. This can be used as a whole group instruction to introduce personal narratives or could be used individually for students who benefit from repetition and review. Students can also use this podcast as they continue through the writing workshop to see what steps come next in the process. Students can also use this podcast as a form of a checklist after creating their stories to make sure they included the appropriate features of a personal narrative.

During the writing process, the teacher is very much needed by all students. The benefits of a podcast would support students by assisting them until the teacher was able to provide direct help.

The podcast reviews the following material:

Features of a personal narrative:

• Tells about something that happened in the writer's life
• Is written in the first person (I, My)
• Expresses the writers personal feelings
• Provides details that support what the writer saw, heard,  or felt.
• Uses time order words (At First, Then, Lastly)

An Example of a Personal Narrative is read during the podcast and disucssed:

• Who tells the story? How do you know?
• What personal feelings does the writer express?
• What details does the writer provide to describe what she sees and hears?
• What time order words does the writer use?

Writing Process steps that are discussed:

• Graphic Organizer (Web with beginning, middle and end)
• Rough Copy Writing
• Peer edit and review
• Teacher rev iew and edit
• Final copy writing
• Share with peers

I look forward to using this in my classroom!

Podbean.com Pod Hosting site!

I chose to use Podbean.com for my pod hosting website. I picked this site because of its simplicity of three steps to create a podcast.  It is very user friendly especially if this would be your first time making a podcast! It doesn’t require special technology or training just the ability to follow simple steps and the click of a mouse. They claim “You can create professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge.”   Once you decide on the Podcast to create they have customizable themes for you to choose from.  These podcasts then can be easily uploaded to blogs, emails, websites and social bookmarking sites. It even has a podcast analysis tool to help you learn how your podcast is doing and how it matches up to other podcasts.  It is a free site to subscribe to as well. This site not only makes it easy for you to create a podcast, it allows you to subscribe to podcasts of your interest and collect them in one place.  There is even a Popular Podcast feature in the form of a top 10 and a Top Stations feature to help you find those podcasts that suit your needs.  With the help of Podbean.com I am excited to create podcasts as I feel comfortable with the easy to read, simple steps provided!

http://www.podbean.com/

Podcast Review: CNN Student News

I chose to review the CNN Student News Podcasts. This is a great tool for all teachers. Although the site recommends that it be used for middle school and highschool students, I believe this tool could also be used at the elementary level as well. This podcast provides news to students in 10 minutes about what is taking place in the world. A podcast is made daily and titled with the topics being explored. Further, the news is presented in a motivating and engaging way. There are also daily discussion topics and transripts provided. I believe these podcasts could be used in the classroom as a journal activity where students refelct on the topics presented in the podcast and then discuss with their peers. Teachers could also look through the podcast archives to find a  news report focusing on a topic they are learning about in school. This would provide real world experience and acknowledgment. For example, if a class is reading a non-fiction story about an Oil Spill, the teacher could search through the podcasts to supplement the story with a CNN student news report. Or if students are learning about floods, they would enjoy to watch the podcast from 9/27/10 where they could learn that "Wisconsin River could reach its highest level since 1973." If students were learning about Nutrition in health class they would benefit from listening to the podcast from 9/30/10 to learn about First Lady: Mrs. Obama and her plans to bring healthier foods to student cafeterias across the country. This could spark further learning and more classroom discussions. As a learning support teacher, I am very excited I found this podcast. I believe these podcasts could be very motivating and help my students learn more about the topics we are focussing on in class.  It is also great for visual and auditory learners.

http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/

Uses for Blogs in the Classroom Assignment 3

http://sarahplainandtall.blogspot.com/

This is a great blog for a reading classroom. This blog was created to supplement the reading of Sarah Plain and Tall. This type of blog could of course be carried out with any story. I think this is a great use of a blog activity because it motivates students to respond to literature. This is something that most students do not enjoy. With this, I believe students are able to learn about their peer's opinions of the story. This blog also provides students with an oppertunity to practice comprehension skills. For example, identifying main idea, characters, setting, theme, etc. These topics all fall under Pennsylvania Standards and would easily fit into the curriculum, however rather than having students respond on paper, they would be able to respond on a classroom blog!

As this blog was set up just to discuss, Sarah Plain and Tall, I think it would be a great idea to have a classroom blog that contains these types of book talks. In this way, students could go to one blog to review what they read in the beginning of the year or even at the end. This could also be beneficial for studying for assessments. As information would be organized by blog posts.

I would like to implement a blog like this in my classroom. I think this is a great way to get parents involved too! Why not let them be involved? Parents can read along with their children to create a family activity as well!