Video Clip Assignment

Check out the links on the right under “Video Clip Assignment.”

Thanks!

Georgia Standards Website.

Unfortunately my computer does not support .rv files (yet) so I could not explore the numerous resources listed on this page.  But, I did find lists of outside resources regarding teaching English Language Learners and gifted students.  TransACT contains official forms in many different languages.  The Georgia Standards website serves as its own bookmarking site.  The standards themselves are one slice of this website-pizza.  The site even contains frameworks for lesson plans divided by subject and grade.  This is very useful for first-year teachers.

Georgiastandards.org is not as boring as I expected!

(It’s name is a bit misleading.)

Media LitKit is it.

It’s incredible.  Why didn’t we receive this 6 months ago?

I was trying to incorporate many of the elements presented in the Media LitKit for my video clip assignment… and failing. Unfortunately I had not read it until today.  My thoughts were disorganized and scattered.  This morning I was exasperated when I read the Consumer Questions; why didn’t I read this before!?

I am so glad someone has pulled all of the elements together in an streamlined and logical fashion.  Teachers can pick and choose depending upon the assignment at hand.  It makes sense.  The Kit is its own “ah ha!” moment.  In a consumerist society, kids need tools to assess what they are being told.  Adults might need it more than their children in some cases!

Is there any more curriculum like this?

Twittiran

Iranians are using Twitter to send/receive live updates on the post-election violence.

According to The New York Times, Twitter had scheduled a maintenance run during a critical period in Iran’s history.  The networking site was used for exchanging real-time information.   You-tube has also been a vital tool for Iranians.

This recognition that an Internet blogging service can affect history in an ancient Islamic country is a new-media milestone.—Mark Lander and Brian Stelter

Censorship

And the winner is…

Wikipedia!

Using Billy Graham as an example, we read an entry in the Americana Encyclopedia.  It was from 1999 and used about 300 words to describe Billy’s accomplishments.  It read like a timeline, and though the information was accurate, it was not up to date for detailed.  Britannica required registration to access their information for more than 40 seconds.  It’s evtry was a bit longer, 1300 words.  Wikipedia came in at a whopping 4,900 words and was incredibly factual and detailed.

If I am computerless and surrounded by encyclopedias, then maybe I would use them as sources.  But let’s face it, even an 2009 encyclopedia could be out of date when it hits the shelves.

RSS, Twitter, and Facebook and Flickr… These are a Few of my Fa-vo-rite Things!

Ahh… these are delightful little gadgets. 

With RSS I can keep up with Fr. Herald Brock, who is serving the poor in the Sudan.  Misleading as it may seem, Twitter is an excellent site for networking.  Of course I follow Ashton Kutcher,  but I can also read tweets from rock and pop and other pleasant sounding music stars that I enjoy.  I can even get real-time news feeds from the New York Times.  For the future English teacher in me, there are also publishing companies and authors who are my fellow twits. 

Facebook is all about connecting with acquaintances, friends, and family.  ‘Nuff said!

If you couldn’t tell from my widget, I love Flickr.  I cannot believe what I was missing from Flickr.  I feel like Christmas morning has arrived!  I would love to compile my photos from around the world and tag them geographically.  It would be awesome to do share this with students.  They could load their own geographically diverse photos for a class album!  The tinyurl.com at the end of the chapter did not work, but no worries!  I found “The Great Flickr Tools Collection”.

Here are a few of the other links from the chapter I found interesting.

“What Can We Do With Flickr?”

David Jakes’ Site

Enjoy!

Wonderful World of Wikis

A few months ago I was introduced into the wiki web world.

One of my classes used Wetpaint as a discussion springboard.  It helped a lot to fill in gaps where classroom lectures left off.  Even after using this site, I still had no idea what “wiki” meant.  I only understood it as a place where everyone can participate.   I even looked it up on Wikipedia, but I was still unsure of the big picture of wikis.

When I read this chapter it cleared up all of my wiki wonderings.  It was neat to see that people are more apt to correct wrong information than they are to dispose of the truth. I can’t wait to leave my stamp on Wikipedia!

Helpful Link:

This is the Wiki Engines list that Richardson mentioned.

WeBLOG… iBlog… We all blog WEBlogs

Chapter Two of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms was entertaining, considering our class activities from the past week.

Because I tend to be disorganized and loose any important item I touch, I try to go as paperless as possible.  I would love to have a classroom like this.   Ditto for online filing cabinets!  I find Google Sites easy to use.  My personal Google Site is off limits to every one but my professors and proofreaders (aka Mom and Greg).  From there, Dr. Crovitz can download my papers, comment on them electronically, and send them via. email, or reload them onto my site.

Ta-da! Paperless, organized, and no worrying about whether or not I can read his comments

(No offense Dr. Crovitz!)

I found pg. 31 very helpful.  He did not refer to it as this, but I see it as a sort of pyramid to webloggers.

1. Posting assignments (Not blogging)
2. Journaling, i.e., “This is what I did today.” (Not blogging)
3. Posting links. (Not blogging)
4. Links with descriptive annotation, i.e., “This site is about ….” (Not really blogging either, but getting close depending on the depth of description)
5. Links with analysis that gets into the meaning of the content being linked (A simple form of blogging)
6. Reflective, metacognitive writing or practice without links. (Complex writing, but simple blogging, I think. Commenting would probably fall in here somewhere)
7. Links with analysis and synthesis that articulate a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind. (Real blogging)
8. Extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links and comments. (Complex blogging).

I am working my way up the ladder!

Lastly, as far as the collaborative aspect goes… comments are enabled.

Representing.

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