I taught my students about Google documents this week, sharing my story about the computer not working and having my power point presentation inaccessible then and how Google documents helped me. I also created a few more power point presentations on Google documents and had a lot of fun doing it. I have a presentation for my grad class on Tuesday all ready on Google documents.
Anyway, on Thursday, seemingly out of the blue, one of my students said that she really appreciated all the information about wikis and blogs and google documents. She said it was really helpful and she thought it would really help her in college next year. Other students then chimed in and agreed that they really thought it would help them in college as well. It is pretty amazing to actually have students thank you because they see the value of the lesson--and not only for today, but how it will affect them in the future. Pretty awesome!
Happy Spring Break everyone!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Collaboration
Technology is fun! I worked with another English teacher for an hour this week teaching her how to set up a blog, a wiki, and how to attach a site meter to her blog. We also talked about google documents. She was really excited and it was fun for me to share this information about technology that I have learned.
Also, I brought my projector and laptop with me to our annual Link Crew planning session that occurred on Thursday. It was really great to be able to use this technology instead of writing things out on pieces of paper scattered around the room only to have to type it up later. We could all work together on the same document and the planning session went smoothly and efficiently--and of course, it was fun too! We were able to download the school calendar and attach to the icalendar as well, which made planning next year's events that much easier.
Lastly, does anyone know how to download data from a jvc digital camcorder onto imovies? This has been the latest link crew frustration so if anyone knows anything about this particular camcorder, I would love your advice.
Also, I brought my projector and laptop with me to our annual Link Crew planning session that occurred on Thursday. It was really great to be able to use this technology instead of writing things out on pieces of paper scattered around the room only to have to type it up later. We could all work together on the same document and the planning session went smoothly and efficiently--and of course, it was fun too! We were able to download the school calendar and attach to the icalendar as well, which made planning next year's events that much easier.
Lastly, does anyone know how to download data from a jvc digital camcorder onto imovies? This has been the latest link crew frustration so if anyone knows anything about this particular camcorder, I would love your advice.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Overdue library book
I love this story by Anna Brones
"If you have a tendency to rack up late fees at your local library, you might want to consider moving to Finland. In the southern town of Vaanta, a library-goer recently returned a book that had been checked out for over 100 years. The person who returned it chose to remain anonymous -- possibly deterred by the note on the book which stated there was a 10 penny per week charge for late returns. The library did not state whether it would have charged a fine or not. The book was a bound copy of a 1902 volume of Vartija, a religious monthly periodical" (http://www.gadling.com/2008/03/12/you-want-to-return-what-finnish-library-book-checked-out-over-1/)
"If you have a tendency to rack up late fees at your local library, you might want to consider moving to Finland. In the southern town of Vaanta, a library-goer recently returned a book that had been checked out for over 100 years. The person who returned it chose to remain anonymous -- possibly deterred by the note on the book which stated there was a 10 penny per week charge for late returns. The library did not state whether it would have charged a fine or not. The book was a bound copy of a 1902 volume of Vartija, a religious monthly periodical" (http://www.gadling.com/2008/03/12/you-want-to-return-what-finnish-library-book-checked-out-over-1/)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Video Streaming
I thought this was an interesting article about using video streaming in the classroom. The article is called "Streaming Technology Improves Student Achievement." http://thejournal.com/articles/16269
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Research Papers
I introduced the research paper process to my ninth graders this week. They really liked the research paper calculator! I hope they use it. It was great to walk them through the different features of the databases using my laptop and projector so they could all ask questions at one time and then could directly use the instruction on their own in the library. I love that when I watched them on their individual computers that they all knew how to access the databases and knew how to start their research. I felt like this is the a victory in itself. I know their information will be so much better because of this. The process of them choosing their topics is also better informed since they all have to find initial articles before they make the decision and their research on the databases have encouraged many of them to choose one topic over another.
On a side note, I got so sick of telling my students over and over that wikipedia is not a reliable source that I wrote it on the board a couple of weeks ago. This has created conversation in all my classes so I know they have all really heard it this time...I am not saying that I'll never see wikipedia on a works cited again, of course; I am not that naive. It even got my advisory students talking and I was really proud of the students that could, and willingly did, explain it to the other students who didn't understand this.
On a side note, I got so sick of telling my students over and over that wikipedia is not a reliable source that I wrote it on the board a couple of weeks ago. This has created conversation in all my classes so I know they have all really heard it this time...I am not saying that I'll never see wikipedia on a works cited again, of course; I am not that naive. It even got my advisory students talking and I was really proud of the students that could, and willingly did, explain it to the other students who didn't understand this.
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