Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Gathering my resources.



There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning. Jiddu Krishnamurti. (http:/​/​www.brainyquote.com/​quotes/​topics/​topic_learning.html, May 21, 2013). Since setting my game plan in motion I have started gathering my resource, and have found several that I felt to be quiet useful.
First I am going to start with my resources for digital citizenship:
1.       moodle.oakland.k12.mi.us/.../What_Does_Digital_Citizenship_Mean.doc‎.
a.       This is a great document that can be printed and handed out to students about what digital citizenship means and it has some great questions for students to ask themselves about their own time online. I feel this handout could lead to a great open discussion in the classroom.      
a.       This is the book that most of the information in the document came from. I have ordered this book in order to research about digital citizenship.
3.       Ribble, Mike. (2013). Digital Citizenship Using Technology Appropriately. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http:/​/​www.digitalcitizenship.net/​Home_Page.html
a.       This is a great page that has many different resources that deal with digital citizenship. This webpage also offers presentations about digital citizenship.
4.       (http:/​/​www.gotoquiz.com/​digital_citizenship_quiz, May 21, 2013)
a.       I plan on using this online quiz as a pre-assessment for students before going into a section on digital citizenship.  I feel like we should spend the first few weeks of school dealing with digital citizenship and how we would like to address this in our own classroom. Students will then help put together a set of rules and questions for our own classroom to be posted on our classroom blog. Each student’s blog will have a link to the classroom one.
Once we have established the rules and ideals for digital citizenship in our classroom I can feel confident about opening up lesson plans that involve more technology, but not just with the web. “Digital media are the key factor for implementing UDL based on the flexibility they offer both teachers and students.” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2008, p. 126).  If I want students to be creative in their final results then I need to be the one leading the way showing students how to use different technology.  I had a head start when looking for links for activities that would have students using different digital media to accomplish some of the typical mundane tasks required to be in an English classroom.
These are some of my favorites
a.       This site is wonderful because it incorporates different media types within the website itself. Like this link I has both video and flash based games students can explore on their own. I love how this site had different types of media about the same subject so it allowed to students to gravitate towards their own learning style.
a.       This website is great for any teacher who interacts with a smart board on a regular basis. As I have stated before I am still learning with a smart board so I wanted to find something I could do that I could adapt to fit my classroom needs. This site gave me a great starting point and once I figure out how they built their games I can build my own.
3.      Nailor, Scott. (2010). Interactive Lanuage Arts. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http:/​/​interactivelanguagearts.com/​lesson-plans/
a.       This website really intrigued me with the comic book project. I have many students who are artistically inclined in my classroom. So I wanted to look at an idea that would allow them a chance to shine.
           
I have yet to take any steps in my goals as we are wrapping up for school right now. Students will be out in a week’s time for summer. I have been going through my lesson plans seeing what lessons have worked, or which ones students have complained about being “Boring” and looking for ways to make them new and exciting for the next school year.

References
            Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2008). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use [A Standards-Based Approach]. mASON, OH: Cengage Learning. (Original work published 2008)
(http:/​/​www.brainyquote.com/​quotes/​topics/​topic_learning.html, May 21, 2013)
(http:/​/​www.gotoquiz.com/​digital_citizenship_quiz, May 21, 2013)
Nailor, Scott. (2010). Interactive Lanuage Arts. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http:/​/​interactivelanguagearts.com/​lesson-plans/
Ribble, Mike. (2013). Digital Citizenship Using Technology Appropriately. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http:/​/​www.digitalcitizenship.net/​Home_Page.html

4 comments:

  1. Hi Courtney,
    You have been quite busy and have accumulated quite a number of resources towards achieving your goal. I quite like that you started at the point of establishing rules and procedures of digital citizenship so that once the students start delving into the technology they are aware of the ethics involved in its responsible use. The website http://creativecommons.org is also a useful site to explore. I like the sites that allow for integrating a variety of media formats into the instruction as they fit directly into the UDL framework that we learned about this week and will help to induce their creative juices. I think that starting with current lesson plans that could be modified to become more engaging and bring out the creativity in students is a great place to start in the implementation phase of your GAME plan. It helps you to build on foundation that you have already established and familiar with rather than starting from scratch by blending the instruction. Have you discussed your plan with your colleagues? How are they providing support to you?
    Amanda

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    1. Amanda,
      I had never been to creative commons and I have now booked marked it to explore when I have a little bit of time. I currently have no colleagues as I am a traveling teacher that moves from classroom to classroom. I have discussed my plan a bit with my mentor teacher. She remarked that they often left the technology teaching up to the librarian as she was the one who is trained in that area. I found that to be a little bit lacking as I thought it should be a responsibility shared by all teachers. Do your fellow teachers support you in your quest? If so how do they? I am curious to hear examples.
      Courtney

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  2. Courtney,

    I am impressed by the number of resources you have already accumulated to reach your goals. I believe digital citizenship is a topic that is often glossed over or not taught at all. It is important that a teacher and his or her students be well versed in the laws and ethics regarding Internet usage before embarking on projects that incorporate technology. Additionally, I think you are wise to find different mediums for students to learn about digital citizenship. I will have to explore some of these!

    Zac

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    1. Zac,
      I am luck that both of my choices for strengthening are something that I am interested in, so I have been gathering my resources for a while. Digital citizenship should really be a goal for all teachers to touch upon because this is something that will be a great skill for students to take with them beyond the classroom. Thank you for your input.
      Courtney

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