DAY NINETEEN: March 30th

Which Standard does the WebQuest activity best teach?

The WebQuest "Unraveling the Underground Railroad" best teaches the following ISTE NETS for students:

3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.

Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.

WebQuest Winner!

Our overall group winner was "Unraveling the Underground Railroad." This activity was chosen off the website A WebQuest about WebQuests, as the best WebQuest even though it was not recommeneded best by the Efficiency Expert. Our group found that it appealed mostly to the Affiliator, the Altitudinist, and the Technophile. As the Affiliator of our group I believe this WebQuest represented my beliefs best because of the major group work. Each child had individual work to look up, so all members did work, and then they gathered together to discuss and role-play. We thought it was the best looking and contained lots of links and information. It also was chosen by the Altitudinist because the work was not all factual and it pertained to many different intelligences!

Flickr safe... ??

How can educators make sites like Flickr safe for their students?

As an educator, the teacher can limit the use of the search button. Therefore the students can not search inappropriate material. The teacher can also filter who can see certain pictures and information by blocking individuals with the Flickr's group tool. Groups can be open to everyone or by invitation only. This keeps information safe. In the end teachers really need to thank Flickr, itself, for keeping their students safe because this program is always developing new privacy tools and continues to develop new school-friendly tools, such as GeoTagging.

DAY EIGHTEEN: March 25th

By creating a digital story students help meet the ISTE NETS for Students In my opinion, this activity best relates to standard 1a; Creativity and Innovation:Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. This means that the students apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes, which is exactly what the fifth grade class did when making their digital stories. They already understood how to write a story, all they had to do was learn the digital technology.

DAY SEVENTEEN: March 23rd

Today I joined a social network on Ning called Bructon's Five. After creating my membership I posted a minibiography about myself. The creation of something like this on a social network site helps develope competencies in Communication & Technology because the students are gaining skills in using technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information. After each fact stated about myself, I posted an image relating to tht topic. This entire project builds students' skills on using different tools and it also helps them to understand and filter appropriate information.

MAGAZINE COVER

DAY SIXTEEN: March 11th

Creating a magazine cover with Powerpoint will help students develop media literacy skills because it allows them to understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics, and conventions. This activity is hands on and they get to develop their own cover by using media tools. Also by creating a magazine cover a teacher is able to derive whether a tudent knows certain information or not. As a future teacher, I would like to use this magazine cover idea for information we are learning in the classroom. For example, I could have my kids create a magazine cover dealing with a certain history topic. By doing this the students are able to work on developing their media literacy skills while I can use the activity as a type of assessment.

DAY FIFTEEN: March 9th

The magazine covers showed during class today depicted different views of Arnold Schwarzenegger. One cover contained an image of Arnold fiercly in a small shirt showing his large muscles for a body builder magazine. The other magazine picture was taken during the same year and it was a picture of Arnold smiling in a black suit with his wedding ring showing for a political aid. Both of thee pictures were taken of the same person, within the same year, and yet they meant totally different obligations. These magazine covers will help students develop media literacy skills by examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.

FSU READS: March 8th 2010

Story Hour Plan for Sequencing

WEB 2.0 Wordle

More nouns and adjectives about Web 2.0! Found on the internet by Denise Lindstrom!!

DAY FOURTEEN: March 4th

A Worlde activity helps students meet innovation skills because they are focusing on creativity, critical thinking, and communication. By using a wordle in the classroom students can individually answer a certain question or relate words. Then, the teacher or students can create a wordle showing which answers were similar and different. Last, students will critically think or communicate to discuss the wordle outcome as a group. Wordles can be used in multiple learning situations. They are fun and productive at the same time, plus they build Innovation Skills.

WORDLE: Web 2.0

By: Elana, Shannon, Madison :)

DAY THIRTEEN: March 2nd

By using bookmarks on my blackboard and blog, I am promoting Information and Media Literacy Skills. A bookmark is a stored location for quick retrieval at a later date. With these bookmarks I have the ability to access my links fast and efficient. This relates to "having the access to an abundance of information." My bookmarks direct me exactly where I need to go on the internet without having to remember url's for each individual site.