JGerwing

I viewed the session about using technology to teach language in the primary classroom.  Presenter, Shelly Terrell, gave many examples of how to use technoloy with young children to practice language skills.  In her presentation, Integrating Online Language Tasks for Young Learners, she uses Skype, blogs, wikis, Voki, Voicethread, and Glogster to integrate language in her curriculum.  Most of the examples involve students learning English, but many of the ideas can be used to to teach students about different cultures and refine their language skills.  I also found the Wiki page created by the presenter a great resource.  I have added her blog to my reader.

My slideshow is a collection of pictures of different houses where Jane Austen lived.  The pictures are taken from “vacation” collections on Flickr.  Lots of Janeites have made a pilgrimage to Great Britain to visit sites associated with Austen.

Homes of Jane Austen on PhotoPeach

Photo Credits:

House at Chawton by randomduck
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudiriet/49384928/in/photostream/
House at Winchester by Jim Linwood
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/5718230318/in/photostream/
House at Bath by BooBooo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/babywalrus/397412691/in/photostream/
House at 10 Henrietta Street, London by Gwynhafyr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwynhafyr/1464057304/in/photostream/

I made a collection of pictures that contributors to Flickr had taken of houses where Jane Austen lived.  Most of these were in collections of photos of vacations to Great Britain.  Obviously, people other than myself have made the pilgrimage to “walk in Jane’s shoes.”

The house Jane, her mother, and sister lived in while at Chawton.

Exploring Flickr was fun!  There are a lot of possibilities within the service.  I did not know much about “tagging” and the tutorial gave me insights into making my searches for photos more productive.  My search for photos was purely for fun.  I got an eyeful of photo collections from other Janeites.  I thoroughly enjoyed browsing the pictures of England.

I can see myself using the collections in my classroom to enhance my social studies curriculum. I like the idea of using pictures in a slideshow that are not the idyllic, glossy shots in a text book.  I also like using photo collections to give kids a preview of a site before we go on field trips.  Flickr would also serve as a source for pictures taken by tourists.  What a great resource!

Photo Credits:

Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, Hampshire by randomduck

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudiriet/49384928/in/photostream/

As an adult and educator I need to be current on the latest legal issues involving copyright.  I use images, videos, and other content from the web(and other sources)  to enhance my teaching.  I need to use the resources in a legal manner.  Young students can understand the concept of sharing, so, a conversation can be held with students about using items created by others in a fair manner.  In the small number of incidents where primary students use the work of others in their creations, the teacher must be the guide.  My responsibility is to use best practices and serve as a role model for my students.

I used the CC Search tool when creating my Wiki page to find an image I could use on the page.  This is certainly a great place to start when looking for images and content.  You can’t stop there with your research on copyright, but it is a start.

I wasn’t aware of the recent agreement with YouTube and Creative Commons.  Check out the wealth of articles about this agreement(negative, positive, and informational).

Overwhelming is right!  i am torn by the wealth of information (and junk) that is feeding into my Google Reader account.  It is fascinating, but another place I have to stop and visit every day (add it to the list with email, voicemail, mailbox, etc.).  Yes, I am taking Shelley’s advice and skimming, but there is so much I want to read!

I have found websites, information tidbits, and tools I can use in my classroom.  Being able to mark items with a “star” helps.  You can quickly review and mark those items you wish to read more thoroughly.  In my “starred” list are several articles about tools/websites from the Free Technology for Teachers Blog.  Check out the Many Books website for a collection of books online, Weaving History for creating timelines matched to maps, and a blog article about websites for public domain images. That’s just in five days!  Also in my list are articles from a second grade teacher who writes a blog for the parents of her students.  So far, there has been an introductory letter and a supply list.  Having the class list of parent emails early in the summer would make this type of communication easy.  Last, a fun blog I have subscribed to is GeekDad (GeekMom also available, but GeekDad is a little more edgy and entertaining).  Here I have read articles about Canada Day, Al Yankovic’s new children’s book,  and a review of a kids’ karaoke microphone that maybe on my shopping list for Christmas gifts.

A thought about setting up a custom news feed-I did this, putting in the topic, Jane Austen. The return on articles was huge.  I tried reducing the feed by customizing the search with more details.  This was successful, but I missed out on some of the fun articles (I had focused on educational items).  My final solution was putting the Google News gadget on my IGoogle page.  This way, in my free time, I can browse the “Jane Austen” search listed on the left side bar.

Being a fan of Austen, I went to the Wikipedia page for Jane Austen.  The page is thorough and well documented.  A quick browse through the attached discussion board shows some scholarly interest and thoughtful revisions to the site (also requests for removal of graffiti).  Most of the folks requesting changes had valid questions and suggestions.  The editor’s responses are thoughtful.  The collaborative nature of the document allows for contributions from scholars as well as less knowledgeable fans with queries.  The history tab showed a detailed record of the revisions.  I found this information less useful because of the severe shortcuts made in the language used to log the entries.  The discussion board was more informative and gave some insight into why changes were made.

I will continue to Wikipedia as a research tool for quick information, but know that the information can be edited by users with less than stellar credentials or with a specific agenda in mind.  Of course, as a teacher of 2nd graders, i have to constantly remind them that the information on the internet is not always correct.  This is a tough sell-kids at this age believe that most things in print are true. Using the internet with students is always a “teachable” moment.

Okay, Wikis look cool!  I can see the collaborative value of using them. The Wikis I looked at had parental participation (in the case of 1st graders) or lots of teacher prep with amazing contributions by 4th graders.   Two of the Wikis had minimal design elements.  The SchoolsThen Wiki is basically a list of responses posted by adults for the students to read.  The K Counting Book Wiki again requests help from adults to complete a goal of photos counting to 100.  Both are great ideas I can see using as a home-to-school activity.  This would be an incredible way to involve parents in an activity with minimal prep by the teacher (I like that!).

The last Wiki I reviewed was an incredible example of a small group of students analyzing a book using collaborative learning on a Wiki.  The Kublerreading Wiki is an ideal example of using a Wiki with students old enough to contribute on their own.  The teacher prep was extensive, although, nothing out of the ordinary for thorough reading group preparation.  It would mean an extra step of putting all the prep material online.  This is a task that would be time consuming the first couple of times, but it would get easier.

There is definitely potential here!

The tool I found useful for the 2nd grade curriculum is Storybird.  The students create books in class and use software to write books online.  This website would allow two or more students to collaborate on a story.  This would be an ideal stepping stone in the sequence of story publishing done at this grade level.  I am excited to try this out with my students.  The interface looks user friendly.  I think the bling would interest the kids and lead to the bang of story writing!

I like the concept of creating comics online, but have run into difficulties in the past with students spending more time creating the comics and little time writing. Creating comics with Pixton For Fun has possibilities, but there would need to be strict guidelines to achieve a worthwhile written product in addition to a comic strip.

Wow! What a cool graphic!  I was browsing the five RSS feeds I added to Google Reader for Thing 5.  One of the posts in Free Technology for Teachers is an amazing graphic for science.  Check out the infographic about the highest mountains and deepest ocean trenches.  I will certainly use it in my classroom and forward it to our primary science teachers.

I certainly found the blogs written by educators or parents for educators interesting.  I can see myself gleaning ideas from these words.

Cool Cat Teacher Blog-Interesting ideas, both positive and negative for teaching.

David Truss:: Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts-Short and to the point!

Weblogg-ed-Made me think about how to reflect with students at the end of the day.

Two of the blogs I read were written by children (with considerably assistance from adults).  I am torn by the amount of time spent by an adult putting together these blogs.  How does this amount of time and effort affect the children?  Wouldn’t time be better spent with the children then on the computer?  Yes, there is some benefit to the students that were given another outlet for their writing.  Kids need to write and this is another place to do this.  I can see that benefit, but an audience is an audience-the size is not critical.  Some of this feels like the creation of PowerPoint presentations with primary-age students-how much time is spent creating vs. the  educational benefit?  Are the kids creating or the adults?  Is the goal process or product?

Dear Kaia and Skyelar-I have read the book mentioned in this blog post-the blog is a nice example of kids interacting with nature.  Are we reconnecting with nature or the computer in the creation of this blog?

A Duck with a Blog-Loved this blog.  This example is concrete and inspiring for primary age students.  The debate about product vs. process is still in progress here.