I was looking through Twine today to see what new technology posts they might have. I didn’t see anything interesting there, but when I went to the Cool Things blog, the first one that came up was a website for Demotivators. I had seen some of these anti-achievement posters before but it was fun to see them again and be reminded of certain important axioms. For example, we need to remember: Agony: not all pain is gain; Defeat: for every winner there are dozens of losers; Failure: when your best just isn’t good enough.
I wonder what a principal would say if a teacher wanted to post some of these in their classroom?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
14 year old Computer Literacy
I was reading the article on D2L “Teaching Internet Literacy Strategies: The Hero Inquiry Project.” In it, the authors quote Eagleton who says, “Navigating the Internet has become an essential literacy task for
today’s middle school students.” They go on to describe a project that teaches students how to choose topics, asking research questions, and do internet searches.
As I read this article, I thought about a conversation I had with my niece who is in 8th grade. She told me she is taking a computer class. I was excited to talk to her about it, thinking of all the things she might be doing and learning about computers and how to use them. Unfortunately, she said the class is boring and she hasn’t learned anything. Now, I know that might not mean much coming from a 13 year old. Lots of things are boring to them. She said, though, that she had the class last year also, and all they did was learn to use the keyboard (which she already knew) and they had to take a “virtual vacation.” She and her partner learned about Australia and made a PowerPoint about it (which she said she already knew).
Even that, I thought, could be interesting and a student could learn a lot about the internet and about PowerPoint. However, it seems her teacher is not very helpful and since she has already finished her project, which she says didn’t take much time or effort, all she does is talk to her friend during the class. She isn’t required to nor does she choose to use that time to explore the computer and all that she can do with it. I find that very disappointing, given what we are learning about the importance of computer literacy and using computers to enhance learning. Here she is in a computer class and even there, the teacher isn’t using the computer to enhance learning. It seems ironic. And it’s a pity.
today’s middle school students.” They go on to describe a project that teaches students how to choose topics, asking research questions, and do internet searches.
As I read this article, I thought about a conversation I had with my niece who is in 8th grade. She told me she is taking a computer class. I was excited to talk to her about it, thinking of all the things she might be doing and learning about computers and how to use them. Unfortunately, she said the class is boring and she hasn’t learned anything. Now, I know that might not mean much coming from a 13 year old. Lots of things are boring to them. She said, though, that she had the class last year also, and all they did was learn to use the keyboard (which she already knew) and they had to take a “virtual vacation.” She and her partner learned about Australia and made a PowerPoint about it (which she said she already knew).
Even that, I thought, could be interesting and a student could learn a lot about the internet and about PowerPoint. However, it seems her teacher is not very helpful and since she has already finished her project, which she says didn’t take much time or effort, all she does is talk to her friend during the class. She isn’t required to nor does she choose to use that time to explore the computer and all that she can do with it. I find that very disappointing, given what we are learning about the importance of computer literacy and using computers to enhance learning. Here she is in a computer class and even there, the teacher isn’t using the computer to enhance learning. It seems ironic. And it’s a pity.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Creepy Treehouse
Cody posted an article about "creepy-tree-house" in a discussion forum a while ago. I spent some time reading it again today and reading the responses to it. One of the responders, Melanie, made some very good points that have me thinking about our use of technology in the classroom.
The thesis of the article is that students are turned off by teachers’ use of technology to lure them into the classroom. The author, Jared Stein, says that when professors require students to interact on things like networking sites or use “an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners” that is “creepy treehouse.”
If that is true, then we are currently learning a lot of creepy treehouses. It seems to me that D2L is an example of the latter—an institutionally controlled technology.
Now Melanie responded to this article with some interesting thoughts. She said, “Negotiating power relationships and privacy issues is the greatest challenge for equity-focused classroom 2.0 educators. Unless you are teaching a web-focused course…asking students to participate in social and participatory media should require clearly defined intentions.”
We spent a good amount of time early in the class discussing privacy with media such as Facebook and Blogs. But most of that privacy had to do with keeping outsiders from reading the Blogs or not posting things on Facebook you wouldn’t want your mother to read. Is that enough to take away the creepy treehouse feel for students?
I also appreciate Melanie’s concern with power relationships. That’s an interesting concept for teachers. There is definitely a power imbalance in the classroom, and I don’t think teachers would want that to be different, otherwise there would be chaos. At the same time, some of the power can be negotiated as Melanie suggests. One way to do this is to present various technology options and find out from the class which ones feel more safe and comfortable for the students.
I also agree with Melanie when she says we must clearly define our intentions for the use of technology. If we make it clear to students why we are using a particular technology, what it will add to the class, how we hope students will use it and what we hope they will learn, it is less likely to feel like creepy treehouse.
This was a thought provoking article. Thank you, Cody, for bringing it to our attention.
The thesis of the article is that students are turned off by teachers’ use of technology to lure them into the classroom. The author, Jared Stein, says that when professors require students to interact on things like networking sites or use “an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners” that is “creepy treehouse.”
If that is true, then we are currently learning a lot of creepy treehouses. It seems to me that D2L is an example of the latter—an institutionally controlled technology.
Now Melanie responded to this article with some interesting thoughts. She said, “Negotiating power relationships and privacy issues is the greatest challenge for equity-focused classroom 2.0 educators. Unless you are teaching a web-focused course…asking students to participate in social and participatory media should require clearly defined intentions.”
We spent a good amount of time early in the class discussing privacy with media such as Facebook and Blogs. But most of that privacy had to do with keeping outsiders from reading the Blogs or not posting things on Facebook you wouldn’t want your mother to read. Is that enough to take away the creepy treehouse feel for students?
I also appreciate Melanie’s concern with power relationships. That’s an interesting concept for teachers. There is definitely a power imbalance in the classroom, and I don’t think teachers would want that to be different, otherwise there would be chaos. At the same time, some of the power can be negotiated as Melanie suggests. One way to do this is to present various technology options and find out from the class which ones feel more safe and comfortable for the students.
I also agree with Melanie when she says we must clearly define our intentions for the use of technology. If we make it clear to students why we are using a particular technology, what it will add to the class, how we hope students will use it and what we hope they will learn, it is less likely to feel like creepy treehouse.
This was a thought provoking article. Thank you, Cody, for bringing it to our attention.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Just for Fun
My husband has always said, "Technology can be used for good or evil." I don't know if that was an original quote or not, but I like it.
Here's a bit of technology--neither good nor evil (except if you don't like the way they used animals). It's just for fun...
sheep
Here's a bit of technology--neither good nor evil (except if you don't like the way they used animals). It's just for fun...
sheep
Thursday, March 19, 2009
More on Visual Literacy
It feels good to have the group presentation behind me. It was exciting to hear from the class all the different ways students bring visual literacy into their classes already. It felt like preaching to the choir. I think I learned more from the class than they learned from the presentation. But preparing the presentation was quite a learning experience. I found many websites that will be useful in the classroom. I also found some I was able to use for my teachnology presentation.
It was also useful to reflect on the whole idea of visual literacy. I found myself thinking back on the ways I learned visual literacy. We used to make posters, drawings, maps, and diagrams. We would tell stories through collages. So, like everything else, I think there has always been visual literacy in the classroom but it is evolving. There is more emphasis on it now because of the new technology. The “information age” includes more graphics and images than perhaps there was in the “olden days.” There is more reliance on the visual over alphabetic than in the past.
Selfe said without visual literacy composition studies may become irrelevant. I don’t believe that. Yes, students need to be visually literate, but I don’t see how composition studies can become irrelevant. Students still need to have the ability to write. They can’t do all their communication through images. I think they need to be taught side by side.
On another note--my husband is taking a class in video documentaries. He was interested in the digital storytelling websites I found. I’m not sure what the difference is between digital storytelling and a documentary. One site said that digital storytelling is more of a first person narrative—a personal story. However, I found some story examples on some of the sites that were very much like a documentary.
After reading Selfe’s chapter and preparing the class presentation, I’m sure I will be incorporating more new media texts and visual literacy into my ESL teaching.
It was also useful to reflect on the whole idea of visual literacy. I found myself thinking back on the ways I learned visual literacy. We used to make posters, drawings, maps, and diagrams. We would tell stories through collages. So, like everything else, I think there has always been visual literacy in the classroom but it is evolving. There is more emphasis on it now because of the new technology. The “information age” includes more graphics and images than perhaps there was in the “olden days.” There is more reliance on the visual over alphabetic than in the past.
Selfe said without visual literacy composition studies may become irrelevant. I don’t believe that. Yes, students need to be visually literate, but I don’t see how composition studies can become irrelevant. Students still need to have the ability to write. They can’t do all their communication through images. I think they need to be taught side by side.
On another note--my husband is taking a class in video documentaries. He was interested in the digital storytelling websites I found. I’m not sure what the difference is between digital storytelling and a documentary. One site said that digital storytelling is more of a first person narrative—a personal story. However, I found some story examples on some of the sites that were very much like a documentary.
After reading Selfe’s chapter and preparing the class presentation, I’m sure I will be incorporating more new media texts and visual literacy into my ESL teaching.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Neat sites
I've been digging around looking for interesting sites I might want to include in my web portfolio. I've found some pretty neat things that I can see myself using in ESL classes. They offer interesting ways for students to practice using English--reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Here's one where you can read the headlines from newspapers all over the world:
Newseum
Here's one that lets you draw comics. I think ESL students might enjoy being creative with this:
make believe
I tried my hand at comic writing--it's not very good, but it was fun: my comic
Comic Creator is similar to makebeliefscomix.
This one helps students learn spelling through interactive games. It has an audio file so students can hear how the word is pronounced and it gives an example of the word in a sentence.
spelling
Sketchcast acts like a whiteboard where you can sketch, draw, write, or whatever.
What makes this more interesting is that you can record audio as you are sketching. This would be a good opportunity for students to practice speaking.
Clover lets individuals to write vignettes including animation.
This site allows students to create multimedia presentations. You can use audeio, video, still images and text to put together a digital show:
surweb
I've used ask.com many times but now I know about answers.com. This is a tool that let's you get definitions of words as well as other information just by highlighting the word. You download the software onto your computer. This could be a very handy tool for English learners to easily find definitions of unknown words as they read webpages.
answers
Many students don't take the time to proofread their work. This is probably more true of ESL students. And even when they do proof their papers, they don't see many errors. Here's a site that helps students practice proofreading. It can be a nice exercise for developing grammar skills as well.
proofreading
Those are some of the recent sites I've found that will let my ESL students practice English in a number of fun, interesting, and educational ways.
Here's one where you can read the headlines from newspapers all over the world:
Newseum
Here's one that lets you draw comics. I think ESL students might enjoy being creative with this:
make believe
I tried my hand at comic writing--it's not very good, but it was fun: my comic
Comic Creator is similar to makebeliefscomix.
This one helps students learn spelling through interactive games. It has an audio file so students can hear how the word is pronounced and it gives an example of the word in a sentence.
spelling
Sketchcast acts like a whiteboard where you can sketch, draw, write, or whatever.
What makes this more interesting is that you can record audio as you are sketching. This would be a good opportunity for students to practice speaking.
Clover lets individuals to write vignettes including animation.
This site allows students to create multimedia presentations. You can use audeio, video, still images and text to put together a digital show:
surweb
I've used ask.com many times but now I know about answers.com. This is a tool that let's you get definitions of words as well as other information just by highlighting the word. You download the software onto your computer. This could be a very handy tool for English learners to easily find definitions of unknown words as they read webpages.
answers
Many students don't take the time to proofread their work. This is probably more true of ESL students. And even when they do proof their papers, they don't see many errors. Here's a site that helps students practice proofreading. It can be a nice exercise for developing grammar skills as well.
proofreading
Those are some of the recent sites I've found that will let my ESL students practice English in a number of fun, interesting, and educational ways.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Visual Literacy
I’ve been preparing for our upcoming group presentation on Selfe’s chapter on Visual Literacy. It’s been quite interesting. I’ve found some good sites for photos and images. I’ve learned about digital storytelling. I’ve seen some good lesson plans to help students learn visual literacy.
Through all this, I can see myself using new texts in my ESL class. I think it would be very good practice for students to listen to some of the digital stories on the internet and to have to author a digital story of their own. Through each other’s digital story, students can get to know each other better and increase their sense of community.
Many ESL teachers have students make presentations to the class. Often they suggest a cultural theme. Public speaking is an important skill and needs some attention. However, visual literacy is also important.
I wonder how/if visual literacy translates between cultures? Would a Middle Eastern student have trouble understanding a digital story made by an Asian student? Hum…something to research.
Through all this, I can see myself using new texts in my ESL class. I think it would be very good practice for students to listen to some of the digital stories on the internet and to have to author a digital story of their own. Through each other’s digital story, students can get to know each other better and increase their sense of community.
Many ESL teachers have students make presentations to the class. Often they suggest a cultural theme. Public speaking is an important skill and needs some attention. However, visual literacy is also important.
I wonder how/if visual literacy translates between cultures? Would a Middle Eastern student have trouble understanding a digital story made by an Asian student? Hum…something to research.
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