Venture completed....well sort of.

I feel like I learned an awful lot this summer. For one, I learned that I prefer the Mac OS to the PC OS which I never thought I would say. Though I must say, I was knocking it without trying it. I really liked the Google tools we learned about and the way that they can be used in the classroom. I was really worried about being able to stay connected with my parents and Google sites and Blogs make that super easy to do. I really like how BlackBoard helps us stay connected at UT and being able to bring that to the HS level is really exciting to me. All in all I really learned a lot about ways to work technology into the classroom at the high school level, and I had a really, really good time doing it.

Oops....

And it just occurred to me that I haven't posted my video yet....oops.... Sorry Jeff.
Anyway, I tried to pick lyrics that went with my photos which in some way connect to the story. I feel like it probably makes more sense after you've read the book, but anyway...Here it is....

and because I failed to include them in the video:
Music:
"Vindicated" Dashboard Confessional
"How to Save A Life" The Fray
"Seventy Times Seven" The Used

Digital Story

Once I got the initial kinks worked out with my music files that I was trying to use everything went pretty smoothly. I really liked this assignment, and I like the fact that I'll be teaching this book in the fall so I could potentially use this as a way to (hopefully) get my students a little bit excited about reading the book. Probably wishful thinking there. At any rate, I think the digital story thing is a pretty good idea just for fun. I know a couple of people have posted theirs to their facebooks and whatnot. And I know it was fun for people to put their pictures together and look back at some good times. So far this has been my favorite assignment we have done, and while I had a couple of little technology issues it was nothing that would discourage me from using something like this in the future. I will say, though, the software in the library is much more user friendly than the software in the classroom.

One minute essay

I was really unfamiliar with Google docs and presentations so that has been some of my favorite work that we have done. Also iGoogle is something that I was introduced to in this class that I really really like. It's actually my homepage on my computer at home now.

For me...far from inspirational

This program really didn't do much for me personally. Admittedly, one reason for that is probably that I'm not a very creative person so I don't really get into this sort of thing as much as many of my colleagues do. I think I could use this (as I attempted to do in my assignment) as a pre-writing handout; something to get the students started and headed in the right direction. I also know that I will have visual learners that this sort of thing will appeal to so it may be something that I need to play with a little more because it seemed really simple to use. I guess I'm on the fence on this program until I get in and play with it some more and try to think of some more practical applications for the classroom.

The ABC's of embedding slideshows

Digital Collection

Making a lesson plan with technology

I really think that integrating technology into the English curriculum is important. I have spoken to this a little before in my blog, but the more we get into this class the more excited I get about this concept. I know going in that even my students on the university path won't necessarily be excited about English. It seems like you either love English or you hate it with the latter being the majority. Danielle and I created a lesson plan for the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird and we had our students create a Google presentation with quotes from the novel and pictures to illustrate those quotes. I believe that technology makes it possible to get children more interested in English because today's student typically enjoys surfing the web and creating things on the computer. Technology makes it possible for us, as English teachers, to plan in a manner that students may actually leave English class having enjoyed themselves and learning about literature.

In regards to lesson planning in general, I am a pretty organized person when it comes to that sort of thing so I don't mind putting in the time to plan. By that same token, I sometime spaz when unexpected things happen so it's really good for me to have detailed plans that I can refer to in order to keep myself on track. I firmly believe that, for the beginning teacher anyway, detailed planning is essential.

Check out our lesson plan

Webquests

I was pretty frustrated by the webquests we looked at during class it seemed like everything that we looked st was linking students to a worksheet that they needs to print out. That's not really a webquest to me. It just seemed like we were putting these worksheets on a website as a link so we could call it a webquest. That said, I think the webquest thing can be a useful tool in the classroom. Students get a sense of autonomy as they use the directions to navigate their way through the lesson. I also think, if done correctly, that a webquest is a good way to liven up the classroom and break away from the normal (and often mundane) way things are typically done in classrooms.

Reflecting on evalutaing...gotta love teacher lingo

I think that website evaluation is an incredibly critical skill for us to possess as educators today. Honestly, I hadn't thought any about this skill until today's class, but the more I think about it the more valuable it seems to me; especially as an English teacher. English, maybe more than any other subject in high school. requires students to research for their work. English is really the only class that I remember writing papers for in high school, and thus it was the only class that I really remember doing research for. For today's student, research means internet browsing. Our students must be equipped with the skills to evaluate the validity of a website before they use it in a paper. Likewise, as teachers we must be prepared to point students in the direction of valid sites. Clearly, if we as teachers can't guide our students to good sites, we can't expect them to be able to tell the difference. I like the idea of giving students a website evaluation checklist and having them fill one out for every source that they use. Students would then turn their own website evaluation forms in with their papers and get a good idea themselves of how to look for credible websites.

Website Evaluation

The checklist that I found is useful because it steps the user through the process of evaluating a website. The site almost forces the user to understand the thought process of evaluating the site as the user works through the checklist. I feel like this type of checklist would be great for high school students researching information to write about in essays and things of that nature. The site encourages the user to fill out the evaluation form as it is completed and then print it out to be turned in to the instructor. This seems like a great idea for high school students because it would force them to think about the types of sources they are using.

Portfolios

Portfolios are something that I have a good bit of interest in. As an English person I like the idea of being able to grade my students based on a body of work rather than just one set prompt or assignment. Further, I like the idea of our potential employers looking at our body of work rather than one lesson plan or essay. The beauty of the digital world that we live in is that it is simple for us to display whatever work we want to be seen and not put anything out there that we don't want to be seen. Also, student portfolios are probably a little more plausible because all you need is server space not tons of filing cabinets and folders and stuff. I like the idea of using portfolio grading as an alternate form of assessment.

My learning goals

While I feel like I am, for the most part, computer literate, I do feel like I can get to know a little more about some things that I can use in my classroom. I already learned about the google sites feature which is pretty impressive and something that I plan to use in my classroom. The trouble wit hteaching English to high school students is that not all of them are going to be interested in English. In fact, the reactions that I get when I tell most people that I am studying to be an English teacher is a little bit depressing sometimes. I do plan to use blogger in my classroom for journaling and I'm glad that this course reminded me how easy it is to set up and use a blog account. I guess what I really want to get out of this class are things like that; simple things that are user-friendly and that my students will enjoy working with. I hope to bring technology into my classroom because today's student needs to know how to use technology to compete in the job field and also because using technology is a great way to engage students. I hope to learn more about wikis and things like that that I can use to make my classroom more connected and more interesting for my students.

Introduction to the class

I am from a suburb of Knoxville called Powell, TN. It is a small town just to the north of Knoxville. I attended Powell High School, and it was in that school that I found my inspiration to become a teacher. My senior English teacher really sparked my interest in the realm of education. She had a way of coming up with creative assignments that made English class incredibly interesting for me. She also had a wonderful way of facilitating discussions in the classroom which really opened my eyes to the world of literature in regards to literary devices and how they function within a work. I plan to teach high school English, preferably 11th and 12th grades and I also plan to coach high school football. I am entering my fifth season as an assistant football coach at Powell and will be doing my internship there in the Fall. Coaching takes up the majority of my free time between practices, film breakdowns, and workouts, but I also umpire youth league baseball in my free time which I enjoy a great deal. Obviously, I love to be around sports and they serve as a release for me; a way to get away from the grind of school and all of those sorts of things. My experience with computers is fairly limited. I do a good bit of social networking on Facebook and things like that. I do surf a couple of forums that pertain mostly to sports and coaching. Beyond that, my experience is limited to Microsoft Office things like PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.