BP16_2009113_RSS _Feed_Persuasive_Commercial_2

BP15_2009113_Chuck_Mill's_Site

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009

I have spent countless hours scouring the Internet for Web 2.0 tools.

The Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture (ETC) course requires researching and blogging about Web 2.0 tools but my motivation for locating excellent tools goes beyond the requirements of this course. My Action Research project draws upon Web 2.0 tools and the introduction of several of them to my students. Additionally, having extra tools in the teacher’s toolkit is a good thing. I have had a lot of fun researching, experimenting with and evaluating these tools.

I have always been intrigued by comic books. Growing up, my older brothers had quite the collection of Superman, Batman and the Archies. I wanted to find some type of a comic strip layout tool I could introduce to my classes. I teach Video Graphics and I am looking for small interesting projects that include a writing component. A short comic strip about school life just might be something the students are interested in.

In researching the Web I found several different comic strip tools. Most were not free so that caused me to move in another direction. I did find one that I think meets the needs of this particular project. It is called Comic Strip Creator. It is available as a free download but works only with Windows. Since there is only one Mac computer in my entire school (a loaner from Apple), this will not be a problem. After downloading the program I could not get it to work. I sent the company an email and they responded the next day saying I needed to “turn off” any anti virus software installed on the computer. It installed like a dream after I did this.

Comic Strip Creator is great. I laid out this comic strip in about 3 minutes. In addition to downloading the program, there is also a download for clip art and backgrounds. I used both of them in this example. And finally, a word to the wise… be careful when searching for the site. The correct url is listed below. Changing the .org to .com may “strip” you of all rights as a teacher!

http://www.comicstripcreator.org/

POSTED BY CMILLS AT 5:03 PM

My comment:

Chuck,


Thanks for this website! One of the best times I had in this course so far, and I felt I was at my most creative is when my daughter and I played around with ComicLife. I then got serious about the project for the month and worked diligently to create a meaningful product for the class. I turned around and tried to use ComicLife in my class but to no avail. We ended up drawing cartoons for Lady Macbeth-Villainess extraordinaire but I wanted students to use my two classroom computers to create digital cartoon strips as we only have PCs. Hopefully you have provided me the answer.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009

BP14_2009113_Web 2.0 Tool_Comic Strip Creator

I have spent countless hours scouring the Internet for Web 2.0 tools.

The Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture (ETC) course requires researching and blogging about Web 2.0 tools but my motivation for locating excellent tools goes beyond the requirements of this course. My Action Research project draws upon Web 2.0 tools and the introduction of several of them to my students. Additionally, having extra tools in the teacher’s toolkit is a good thing. I have had a lot of fun researching, experimenting with and evaluating these tools.

I have always been intrigued by comic books. Growing up, my older brothers had quite the collection of Superman, Batman and the Archies. I wanted to find some type of a comic strip layout tool I could introduce to my classes. I teach Video Graphics and I am looking for small interesting projects that include a writing component. A short comic strip about school life just might be something the students are interested in.

In researching the Web I found several different comic strip tools. Most were not free so that caused me to move in another direction. I did find one that I think meets the needs of this particular project. It is called Comic Strip Creator. It is available as a free download but works only with Windows. Since there is only one Mac computer in my entire school (a loaner from Apple), this will not be a problem. After downloading the program I could not get it to work. I sent the company an email and they responded the next day saying I needed to “turn off” any anti virus software installed on the computer. It installed like a dream after I did this.

Comic Strip Creator is great. I laid out this comic strip in about 3 minutes. In addition to downloading the program, there is also a download for clip art and backgrounds. I used both of them in this example. And finally, a word to the wise… be careful when searching for the site. The correct url is listed below. Changing the .org to .com may “strip” you of all rights as a teacher!

http://www.comicstripcreator.org/

POSTED BY CMILLS AT 5:03 PM

Chuck,


Thanks for this website! One of the best times I had in this course so far, and I felt I was at my most creative is when my daughter and I played around with ComicLife. I then got serious about the project for the month and worked diligently to create a meaningful product for the class. I turned around and tried to use ComicLife in my class but to no avail. We ended up drawing cartoons for Lady Macbeth-Villainess extraordinaire but I wanted students to use my two classroom computers to create digital cartoon strips as we only have PCs. Hopefully you have provided me the answer.

BP14_2009113_Dedras_Site

I found a cool new tool to use that students and adults/teachers will like for both professional and social use. I am creating an example now and will share both it and the site by tomorrow. Hope you find it as cool as I do!

The site is: www.slides.com. It allows you and your students to create slide shows right on the computer by uploading pictures and choosing how you want them to be viewed. It also allows you to add captions to tell a story from a visual perspective with minimal words. I made one as an example. Check it out at: www.slide.com

I seem to have gotten a little turned around here in that I thought that I had already included in formation for this new site along with information on Flickr as they can be used in conjunction with one another. After making my Flickr page, I shared the idea with a colleague who then shared with me the idea of Slide.com as he had used it to make a "Day in the Life" mini documentary. I decided to take some of the pictures I uploaded to my Flickr page and use them to make a demonstration slide show. This turned into several short slide shows as I tried to figure out which one looked the best, so I could share with you all. I have chosen "Family flight lessons" and will send out the link to you later.

When working with both of these applications, several students came to mind and ideas or how they would utilize this tool started popping up. I thought this application would be especially great for my students that love to draw and are very visual in their approach to learning.

Because science is such a hands on subject, it works with mostly everything that we do.

Some lessons that I would use this for are:

Living Systems organization- there are 5 levels of living things (cells, tissue, organs, organ systems, organisms) and each can be represented with a picture representation.

The idea is to have students search for pictures of items that would represent each and make a group in correct order with tags to show the levels. This would allow them to accomplish the same task with individuality and creativity. Also, this would be an engaging activity that can be stored, shared and even used for other projects later on (Life science builds on previous topics). They could also take this information and create a slide show for presentation, thereby connecting two applications.

Other ideas for lessons are listed below. This includes one that I found on the web. Enjoy!

1. Education History program

2. Student Museum on line

3. Environmental Awareness project

My comment:

Dedra, slide.com sounds like user friendly and easy kinesthetic way to take notes present lessons to classmates/students. Since I am anxious to incorporate Flickr, students cell phones/picture taking ability, and more updated powerpoint technology in my classroom this looks like it could really tie everything in!

BP13_2009113_RSS_Feed

RSS feeds could be applicable in my personal and professional life by organizing my favorite informational sites at a glance. “The aggregator provides a consolidated view of the content in a single browser display or desktop application. Such aggregators or applications are also referred to as RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators or news readers” (http://sih.sagepub.com/rss/). I would customize my personal RSS feed for quotes of the day, top news features, recipes, health articles, and national weather reports. For my professional RSS feed, I would personalize it by setting up SAT Questions of the Day, my literature blog, Edutopia, local news pieces, photography, and No Fear Shakespeare.com. This would save me a lot of time in searching for my usually used websites, Web 2.0 tools, and e-mail subscriptions. Colleague Kiley Craft (personal communication, October 15, 2009) commented, “RSS Feeds save the user time by checking for updates and gathering them into one place.” I would like to see my high school create an RSS feed that parents, teachers, and students could subscribe to for updates about the campus, school closings, test dates, athletic events, dances, award ceremonies, social events, rallies, tutorials, etc.

As an example for my administration, I could set up a blog that is capable of RSS feeds, displaying lesson plans, PowerPoints, my classroom agenda, standards, and more (up until this year we had Edline, but we have a different database that doesn’t utilize this tool; I know our parents, students, and teachers miss the ability to communicate and post their assignments online). I definitely see a future for RSS feeds in managing my educational and personal goals.

SAGE Publications. (2009) RSS feeds. Retrieved from http://sih.sagepub.com/rss/

Image retrieved from http://creativenerds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/rss-bot.jpg

BP12_2009113_Kiley_Comment

RSS Feeds - The principal came into my room the other day and was asking what I knew about Twitter. Her main focus was on whether or not the audience could subscribe to the twitter or had to go looking for each post and whether or not the viewer could comment. I tried to explain to her what I knew about twitter when I realized what she really wanted was an RSS feed. She was looking for a way to broadcast information to parents and staff via the internet and web enabled devices for campus updates. She was looking for a newer technology than the autodialer we use now that calles parents home telephone numbers at night and plays a recorded message. But, she didn't want to get bogged down in technology and she wasn't excited about 3100 parents writing comments back that she would have to read. Now I have to put together a proposal for how she could use an RSS feed from the school's website to reach her audience. I'm actually excited about the prospect of several feeds for particular audiences. A Campus News for parents, Campus Update for staff, School Closure notice for both groups when we have a snow day, maybe even the department chairs could assemble information that was for staff students and parents interested in say art shows, musical performances, athletic could post game scores...

Image provided by http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/free-rss-feed-icons-the-ultimate-list/

My comment:

Sounds like a lot of interesting opportunities to communicate with colleagues and community, I wonder if business could become involved? Hopefully it won't involve too much extra work on a daily basis, it would be great way to tie in EL families if it could be translated into other languages.

BP11_2009112_Springpad

BP10_2009112_Social_Bookmarking

Social bookmarking will prove to be a more organized way of saving, viewing, accessing, and sharing my weblinks with colleagues and students. Delicious is one of the most popular websites, but FURL is available too, according to Rebecca Hedreen, Distance Education librarian at Buley Library, Southern Connecticut State University. She says, “Social bookmarking is just one of the ‘newest things’ sweeping the Internet” (Hedreen, 2005). The great service about social bookmarking is tagging and sharing; the user can save it on their own personal archive page, just as before, but it is more easily accessed due to the keywords you save it under, organize the data, sort it, post it, then communicate with other users, making it a great method for disseminating information. These are free services; also, there are social bookmarking services specifically aimed at certain audiences, such as Flickr, a photo service, and Connotea or CiteULike for researching academic subjects. Any educator or student can categorize their findings from any computer since this asset is web-based, and save their research, adding the URLs for later use.

On Web Worker Daily.com’s site, Doriano Carta uses Delicious as a social networking tool, including RSS feeds. Carta states, “This is a powerful collaboration tool and something that could prove useful for clients and projects.” This site demonstrates how anyone can make their own collection to contribute online.

Universities are beginning to incorporate social bookmarking tools, in addition to other forms of technology, to break down the traditional classroom walls. Baylor University is one such academic setting. Gardner Campbell, director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning, is one of the many faculty members encouraging development in classroom technologies and implementing them in his own classes. He reports that the school learns more from their failure than their success. It is a slow process, but that students using more technology in and beyond the classroom will help them become more engaged in their learning. Campbell said, "One of the particular things I do is to help facilitate how to incorporate technologies into their practices. The particular work I'm doing with information technology spans from new media to various kinds of online communication” (2009). One source is a social bookmarking Website called Delicious, where users can tag Websites, pictures, articles, and more, then share them with specific others, or a general audience.

Associate professor of Management Blaine McCormick, uses Delicious to post articles for his class from the Wall Street Journal as a classroom assignment. Surveying his students, he found many of them gathered their information through technological devices. He has his students working online now (2009).

Delicious and other social bookmarking websites are paving the way for resourceful, collaborative education in the present and future.

Carta, D. (2009, September 16). Roundup: Create Collections of Useful Things to Share Online. http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/09/16/roundup-create-collections-of-useful-things-to-share-online/

Hedreen, R. (2005, February 3). Social Bookmarking in Education. http://frequanq.blogspot.com/2005/02/social-bookmarking-in-education.html

Thompson, J. (2009, November 3). Professors mesh with new gadgets: Technology is being integrated into various BU classes. The Lariat Online. Retrieved from http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=64169

BP9_2009112_Response_One

I am learning so many things this class that I feel my head may spin straight off. The newest tool is Flickr. I have played around with the web tool (that is Flickr), and I need more play time to figure it all out. I am not sure if I like the idea of having my personal photos published for anyone to view. Maybe I am still thinking the old school way. I know that people these days do not have that same sense of wary when posting their photos or videos. I work in a high school I see the students taking photos or videos of everything, then you hear how almost instantly these records have been posted for anyone to see. It blows my mind to think about how technology has changed and that my attitude towards this "voyeurism" way of life is so antiquated.

As a dinosaur, I still understand the need to reach students at their level, so I look at Flickr as a tool to help me with that. I want technology integrated in my classroom to the point of using the Web 2.0 tools as second nature (for me and for them). With that said, I researched lessons using Flickr and located something that I can integrate into my lessons; Snapshots in Time. Although the lesson information found is a lesson for maritime documentation, it can easily be integrated for historical reference and documentation.

The lesson's rationale states "Primary sources are invaluable to the work of researchers and historians. Examining primary sources from multiple perspectives is critical to better understanding the events and people of the past" (Smithsonian, June 2009).

I would take the components of this lesson and change its focus to the JIm Crow era and segregation. The instructions are divided into three sections. Section one is for the students to do a review. I would assign students to review de facto and de jour segregation during the Jim Crow south. Also the students will be instructed to compare different stories about a historical figure (ex: Billie Holiday) or an event.

Part two would instruct the students to identify examples of either forms of segregation within the student's community (ex. de facto segregation in the cafeteria or local neighborhoods). Then, the students will use technology to record examples of either segregation within the student's community.

Step three would be for students to describe segregation activities across the country. Once that is completed the the students will compare segregation activities to those of the past.

The students will learn how to identify the source of historical documents or narratives, will be able to identify central questions that the historical narratives address, formulate questions to focus their inquiry or analysis, compare and contrast differing sets of ideas / values / behaviors, will be able to compare historical events to current events, will be able to consider multiple perspectives, and hypothesize influences of the past. Also, the students will understand the ethical, cultural and societal issues related through technology (Smithsonian, June 2009).

With this lesson, the students will be able to post their photos for a comparison and class discussion. Using Flickr as a tool for sharing the students findings can then later be compared to other historical events when learning about the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation. A similar lesson can be conducted to show examples of how society has changed and how the communities have become more diverse over time, showing examples again for class discussion.

Flickr can be used as a powerful tool in the classroom, that the students can utilize anywhere.


Library.thinkquest.org. (n/d). Endangered Bees Gallery. Retrieved on October 30, 2009 from http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/02034/gallery.html

Smithsonian National Museum of natural History. (2009). Snapshots in time. Retrieved on November 4, 2009 fromhttp://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/OTW_educators_guide.pdf

Comment:

Toni- I am impressed with your lesson plan and think I can incorporate some of those concepts when my juniors study Civil War writers and the Harlem Renaissance in our American Literature class. We review primary source documents and my students are usually unable to distinguish between history and fiction when the material is seen in a textbook; how remarkable it might be to see a photograph. I will have to check out Snapshots in Time before we get to segregation and other time periods. While I empathize with you about your personal privacy issue regarding photography, apparently the world doesn't seem to share it. I agree with you, however, in the world of instantaneous technology, (You Tube, Facebook, etc.) we should instill responsibility with our students. I don't think it is "old school" to educate them about the dangers of modeling, shooting, and posting of inappropriate material; there are no boundaries or consequences other than destroyed reputations. As educators, we need to be the voice of reason.

BP8_2009112_Web 2.0_Brightstorm

As a parent I would purchase Brightstorm, a Web 2.0 tool, for SAT & ACT test preparation and core subject studies. It includes lessons via video for Advanced Placement classes and regular subjects such as Writing, Algebra II, Literature, Pre Calculus, and more. Their site was professional, trustworthy, streamlined, aesthetically pleasing, and user friendly. They even have a weekly free download. I identify with their mission statement describing their challenge: “Brightstorm gives great classroom teachers a new channel that enables them to reach and inspire millions of teens with their unique personalities, expertise and lesson plans. The net result is a powerful network where teens learn more, expert teachers are able to reach more students, and parents can play a more active role in building their kids' confidence in school.” I liked the short biographies of the teachers next to their pictures; I felt very welcomed, and I can only imagine teenagers would, too.

I am particularly interested in the grammar portions as the presenter in the video demonstrated the lesson in a relaxed, non-threatening, logical manner, using visuals, music, humor-and without a textbook. I can see my high school students engaged by this just as they are when I show a short clip of Grammar Rock. Financial cut backs being what they are, my school cannot afford this Brightstorm Web 2.0 package at $49.95 a pop, but I still think as a tutoring aid the website would have intrinsic value. I suppose my students could make a video for each grammar module, mimicking this entertaining style. I feel a lesson plan brewing…for my AR/CBL perhaps I could have one or two “grammarian” students who feel comfortable enough coaching other students create a video module for each grammar unit, while I film them. This could enable my regular and tutorial classes to become more active and visual learners. I think the Brightstorm site is an exciting asset, just too expensive for me.

http://www.brightstorm.com/

Photo from http://www.brightstorm.ca/images/BrightStormLogo_small_bkpin.jpg

BP7_2009112_Web 2.0_Wordle

I was delighted to run across the post card Web.20 website since we use to send positive reinforcement postcards to our most improved students, student of the months, or for special occasion. Due to budget constraints those times are long gone with this technology I can now design, create, format and send postcards as necessary. I can even send personal post cards for holidays. There are levels ranging from free to costlier categories. Apparently I just need a receiver’s e-mail address and I am good to go!

Hold on…I just tried to download a postcard for y’all and it turned out that it was an application to download. My excitement has turned to frustration they shouldn’t be advertising this as Web 2.0 since you can’t share this; perhaps I am doing it wrong. I am moving on to Wordle.

I stumbled on to Wordle tonight, knowing we were going to be working on it later on in the month. Apparently FSO has been using this with some of their graphical elements in many media assets throughout the last few months. I always wondered how they did it! This is probably the friendliest tool that I have examined so far, aside from Keynote. I am very excited about it. I value this interface as it allows me to explore different languages, fonts, colors, backgrounds, layouts, and settings until I am satisfied. I appreciate the ability to alphabetize and change my word count. Also, there is the opportunity to look at other creations via the gallery and contact the innovator of Wordle. I am not a graphic artist but adore adding visual elements to linguistic learning; this simple user interface will help my students and me accomplish this.

http://www.wordle.net/

BP6_2009112_Web 2.0_Tool_Survey_Monkey

Survey Monkey is an invaluable free Web 2.0 tool that I will use in my classroom a I try to get over my fear of cell phone use and the restrictions that dominate our school wide rules. This Internet based survey generator and hosting site will help me get in touch with my students’ level of communication skills. I need to start my queries with the students and understand their level, and Survey Monkey seems an ideal Web 2.0 tool to facilitate. I will organize it with multiple choice, true/false and one or two open ended questions then tabulate the results. I will have my student aids help set up the survey questions. I have a couple of questions in mind, and I would like the students’ input with the questions. After I have gained an understanding of my student population and their cell phone usage history and cell phone models, I will have a basis to create a behavior/consequences contract, educational usage projection, and further lesson plans in my classroom. I plan on having students’ input as far as consequences and cell phone usage and behavior. I hear my colleagues at FSO wax on about the glorious possibilities for the usage of lesson plans with cell phones; however, I don’t understand how this can work if all students do not have current cell phones or our classrooms have good cell phone reception. I really want to incorporate cell phones as an educational process in my classroom, however the levels of maturity vary; what about the immature student who insists on breaking the rules and texting or cheating on a test? How does one monitor 30 students? Since I am going against school policy I will have no recourse. I think my second visit to Survey Monkey will be a questionnaire where students establish their own code of conduct regarding the use of technology.

Photo from http://www.chiefhomeofficer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/survey_monkey.gif

Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/

BP5_2009112_Flickr_in_the_class

Flickr is a website I am currently using in my 11^th and 12^th grade English classroom as I develop a lesson plan for each grade level. For my 12^th graders we are currently immersed in Arthurian Legends and the students were asked to go home and commit two chivalrous deeds over the weekend. They were also assigned an essay entitled, “Is chivalry dead in America today or has it just evolved?” Flickr photo streams could be additional assets to the essays because students can take a picture of these deeds and post to Flickr, making it easy to share between each other and the teacher. Come Monday we could view them on the data projector while sharing the event, relating it to their essay…isn’t a picture worth a thousand words? In theory, this is a powerful lesson plan; however, only one third of my students have digital cameras; does the technology allow for cell phone cameras to upload photos to Flickr? Can I access Flickr from my school or is it going to be blocked by the firewall? I think I already know the answer to that question; no access. Oh well, I will just keep lesson planning.

In my 11^th grade classroom we are studying the transcendental philosophers and writers, such as Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow, and Whitman. Students were assigned groups where they performed literary analysis of the original poets’ work, employing literary terms, then assessed. At this point, they could write their own poetry, mimicking their favorite transcendentalist poet’s style and take a photo stream, publishing it to Flickr. This would help all of us to relate our lives to the themes of the philosophers. Again, the photo streams could enhance the lesson. Students would get in groups and pair share, and we would have a more concrete understanding of the students’ original products.

Photo from http://www.barnard.edu/library/zines/images/flickr-logo.jpg

BP4_2009111_Edu_Uses_for_Blogger

Blogging is a significant tool for 21^st century teachers, because it opens up an entire new portal between educators, businesses, community members, students, support groups, and more. Teachers can create their own ideas, publish them on websites, share them, receive feedback, fine tune them, and employ them in their classrooms. They can borrow ideas from other blogs, refreshing their own lessons or infusing assignments with creativity, diversity, differentiation, and multiply learning styles. Blogging places a new meaning to the saying “It takes a village to raise a child” as we now have global participation on the crafting of lessons, units, quizzes, projects, and assessments.

Students seem engaged by this asset, so shouldn’t teachers get on board, too? We should be journaling in this format; this is a great way to teach writing and reading skills if only we can discuss the technology for them. This could be less threatening, paperless, more enjoyable technique for submitting writing samples and innovative assignments.

We should probably see more learning progression as they create their personal learning environments, setting up their blogs, accessing Web 2.0 collections and websites to gain insightful knowledge in new user friendly technology. Anyone who is capable of using a social networking website will be able to implement a web 2.0 tool to broaden their horizons and worldview. In the words of Marshal McLuhan, ”The medium is the message,” meaning that the way in which a person receives a message can be more impactful then the message itself (Understanding Media, 1964).

Blogs are the wave of the future in terms of education and communication.

Photo from http://www.arte10.com/blogs/Artarte/blog.php?id=151 Retrieved November 6, 2009

BP3_2009112_Web_2.0_tools

After reviewing a variety of Web 2.0 collections, sifting through cooking, dating, fuel usage, tweeting, storytelling, lesson planning, a visual thesaurus, language learning communities, and Anime photo sharing technologies, I decided to go with YacaPaca. Created by Chalkface Project, YacaPaca can be an invaluable reference, resource, lesson planner, and assessment tool for both educators and students. First time visitors need to create a login and password. Subjects range across the curriculum, including exit exams, homework assignments, surveys and other specialized tests. Teachers can make their own tests, or choose from previously created exams posted in their subject area. This Web 2.0 includes comments and reviews; I appreciate the option for feedback regarding created assignments so all viewers can see other people’s thoughts about the lessons.

Some of the assignment templates would be applicable for small group learning, independent study, or self directed learning. Students can easily go on the website to take a practice test, a quiz for extra credit work, to review for exit exams, or the teacher could throw the test up on the screen and take it with the entire class, using guided instruction and her computer.

For resource students, second language learners, and right-brain learners, this site will prove appealing. They can maneuver easily through the website as it is user friendly. The colors, graphics and animations are aesthetically pleasing and amusing- even the name is fun to say!

This site incorporates whole brain learning, according to Eric Jensen’s Theory of Brain Based Learning:

“Current brain research tells us that we generally use both sides of the brain most of the time. Nevertheless, the right-brain emphasis produced the proverbial pendulum swing, which resulted in a hyperawareness of the brain’s lateral processing tendencies. To ensure optimal learning, we must facilitate learning activities that include the strengths of both hemispheres. Ideally, our efforts ought to be focused on whole brain learning” (2008).

Not only does this site provide visual stimulation, but also it is a helpful resource, especially for standards and assessments. I have already set up my user name and password, and I plan on making up a few poetry quizzes for American Literature. The Shakespeare workshops and activities seem engaging. I had a good time with The Mice and Men Test, and I want to try and find a Hamlet test next. There are a few bugs I want to work out, but I foresee good results with this in both my regular classes and my tutorial for my AR/CBL Project.

Jensen, E. (2008). Brain based learning: The new paradigm of teaching. California: Corwin Press.

YacaPaca Photo logo courtesy of YacaPaca website.

BP2_2009111_Google_Reader

I chose the Purple Press Blog, “Freshmen Update: Middle School Tutors”, from the Phoenixville Area School District because I am interested in students tutoring other students. I have worked in the AVID Program and we have successfully incorporated seniors as tutors for our freshmen. In our current budget crisis this is working out nicely, for a number of reasons; we don’t have to pay for outside tutors and our seniors are gaining experience, skills and pride with their mentorship. I would like to see this extended to an elective class across the board for all our core subjects. I realize training, leadership and assessment would have to be part of the program. However, I feel the results and strides from mentees and mentors would be astronomical. That is what drew me to this blog. As for my professional interest, my AR/CBL Project based on remedial tutoring; perhaps I could persuade a senior to help tutor these students after school.

In reading the blog, The Gradebook: School News from Tampa Bay, Florida, I was interested to see editorials about achievement gaps, test scores, cultural diversity, attendance re-zoning, exit exams, online education, drop out rates, standards, bullying, parent involvement, budget issues and community involvement. This blog should help my professional development and AR/CBL Project because it lends a new perspective; many of my critical friends and peers from FSO are from Florida and it is relevant to see the educational concerns they are experiencing across the nation. California is encountering many of these same obstacles; I feel it is reflected in my tutoring program by my failing students. I hope to find ideas to help them from this blog.

The Edutopia blog contains a plethora of articles pertaining to my subject area. They are timely, controversial, significant and thought provoking. Topics ranging from Waldorf Method Schools to banning hugs and books; charter school results and YouTube classroom use; digital textbooks and the digital divide; social networking, Twitter and other Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. In particular, psychologist Maurice Elias’s blog about Hawaii’s academic year being shortened by 17 days and the quality of its education remaining intact was very enlightening and all the responses gave me a lot to ruminate about.

The First Tutors Blog pertains to tutees parents and tutors signing in and signing up for tutoring in all subjects for assistance for a fee. There are tutorials and questions, essays, problems and tests available. I think this would help in my tutoring program.

The final blog that I visited for this week was The Top 101 Web Sites for Teachers, which seemed to be a one stop-shopping trip for someone who needs fresh ideas for the classroom. There are resources about American writers, book talk ideas, writing prompts (always wonderful) and literacy skills. I am so glad I happened upon this blog as it looks to be a gold mind for my low achieving readers and writers.

BP1_2009101_iGoogle_Screenshots