education – Page 4 – One more thing…

May 22, 2009

Facebook for Literature and History

In a follow up to my post on “Why is Everyone So Afraid of Social Networking” I felt that it was necessary to portray some of the positive elements of social networking. One of the foundations of social networking can be derived from psychological principles and the enrichment of the Ego. However, this is simply one side of the social networking process. The core of social networking begins with a common interest and spreads out to satellite communities. However, I feel facebook and myspace are not really social networks. The core of facebook was to bring college students together and you could only join if you had a university address. This core idea has since faded and expanded into a community of people adding “friends” daily and not even really knowing their affiliation. Mind you, this is not a universal trait, but when I polled my students on how many “friends” they have on facebook, there was rarely a number below 500. FIVE HUNDRED! Really, who can keep up with that many birthdays?

The original concept behind facebook falls into the social network definition, but the recent versions are simply millions of people accepting or denying invitations based on, and let’s be honest, looks or profile information, not a common network interest. With that said, I wanted to take the concept of facebook and myspace and apply it to literature or history. This lesson worked nicely in my classroom and feel that it can work in any classroom, even those without any form of technology.

Here is an outline of how the lesson should flow.

Objective: Create a “profile page” for one of the characters in history or literature.

Process:

1. Define a social network

2. Define what “facebook” is and what it accomplishes

3. Ask students how they can apply the answers to #2 to the characters we are reading in the novel or history.

a. EXAMPLE: In Lord of the Flies, who would be in Piggy’s social network? What would be his interests? What links might he share? What might be written on his wall?

4. Ask students to create a profile page for one character in the story. They have to include all of the following items:

a. Picture – Let them draw the picture because it promotes creativity and saves paper and printer ink.

b. Basic Information

i. Age

ii. Location

iii. Birthday

iv. Sex

v. Occupation

vi. Religious views

vii. Political views

viii. Favorite Music

ix. Favorite Books

x. Favorite Movies/TV shows

xi. Favorite Quote – This is a good way to get students to elicit an important passage that defines that character.

The best way to display these pages is limit each student or group to one giant post it page. Allow them 30-40 minutes to accomplish this task and make sure they don’t over due it by trying to be overly artistic. While being artistic is wonderful, remind them that this activity is for understanding the literature.

When you are finished with this activity use the sticky portion of the giant post it pages and hang them around the room. Have students present their pages and explain why they chose to design it that way and their rationale for selecting information. Have them explain why Piggy (from Lord of the Flies) is reading Robinson Crusoe.

Remember, this activity should be half creative and half factual evidence from the text. Also, the creative material cannot just be there to gain a laugh from your classmates. EXAMPLE: Jack from Lord of the Flies likes to listen to T-Pain’s music (No offense to T-pain, but it doesn’t fit Jack’s personality).

This activity fosters reading for understanding, understanding characterization and allows students to think critical and creatively when combing through a story. I use this activity every semester and it really brings out a good dialogue about the story and the characters we read. It enhances our class discussions and gives students a familiar device to remember character traits.

The idea of a social network is to build a community from a common interest. In our literature and historical texts, this concept is evident throughout. I think it should be a part of our teaching and aid in building our students’ understanding of characters and historical figures. I hope you like this idea and look forward to hearing feedback from those who have tried it!

Happy Memorial Day to all out there and let us take a moment this weekend to reflect on those who have done so much for this country. Thank you!

May 21, 2009

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today is my parents’ Anniversary. They have given my brother and I so much support through out our lives and our academic careers. Every year I try and think of a gift I can give them that can sum it all up. Unfortunately Apple does not have an ‘App’ for that. So how do we repay the ones who have given us every piece of their lives, made endless sacrifices and have simply been there? How do we show them our gratitude? For me, it’s simple. I always try and find something that will make my mom cry (in a good way!). With my mother that is never hard. And my Dad loves looking back at old photos, but hates posing for them. So this year I wanted to combine these ideas in a way that both visually and musically capture 32 years of marriage. George Lucas was busy, so I turned to my good friend Animoto!

Yes, I am making another plug for this grand application! I hope since reading my last post on Animoto you have tried it many times over and even come up with an assignment for your class. I cannot stress enough the brilliance of this application and hope that you give it a try. Even if you don’t use it in your classroom, take a few moments to use it to say, “thank you” to those who have “been there” in so many ways.

Thank you Mom and Dad

May 17, 2009

Bloggers Love Feedback! Thank You Threadless.com!

Sometimes being a blogger is a thankless job. One in which you create and distribute for free, simply because you love it. I love sharing information about my experiences with teaching and technology in the classroom. And I do this for other teachers to learn and experience new ideas for the classroom. Every now and then a small note really make you feel really great!

Two days ago, I featured threadless.com for use in the art classroom and sent an e-mail to the site letting them know about the post. I expected nothing in return, but instead received the kind e-mail below.

Hi Andrew,

Thank you so much for your kind email and for featuring Threadless on your blog! This is an awesome article! Since you talk about bringing Threadless into the classroom in your blog, I wanted to let you know that we have taken the idea to inspire students one step further and have launched a program called Threadless 101, where the regular Threadless design challenge is scaled down for teachers to use in the classroom! I think you’ll enjoy reading about it and hopefully blogging about it even more. Please feel free to read up on it in the attached introductory letter and check it out here: http://www.threadless.com/artists. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions!

I hope to hear from you soon!

My best,

Mimi

I really encourage all art and design teachers to go to the link embedded in the e-mail and download the PDF. Threadless also has course materials that you can download in one folder. The course materials are well organized and will help implement threadless.com into your class. Threadless 101 is a great venture and really promotes the idea of creative design by students. I hope to hear from all of the art teachers out there who will be trying this out! Please send me your comments and feedback if you are trying this!

After you read this, find your nearest blogger and hug him or her and then proceed to leave them a little feedback on their page. It really goes a long way!

April 28, 2009

Power Who? Power What? Power Point!

Yesterday I posted on the great features of SlideShare. Today I received this response on my Ning…

Googledocs is better as it is more collaborative and allows the easy use of Youtube videos. Slideshare is merely passable as you lose all music, animations and video. At that point you might as well output your ppt as jpegs and drop them into a java slideshow which is essentially what slideshare seems to do.

While this author makes a valid point about the collaborative nature of GoogleDocs and the ability to embed video and animations, he fails to miss the – get ready to LOL at this intended pun – point of the intended nature of my students’ powerpoint.

Here was my response…

For the project I assigned above, my students were only allowed to use images and brief text to convey their idea. When you rethink the idea of a powerpoint what does a video, massive amounts of text and neat animations provide an audience anyway? If you are presenting it is YOU who is presenting the information, not the powerpoint. If you embed YouTube videos and animations then you might as well tell your students to create an imovie and let the students sit back and watch while the presenter joins in the viewing.

I want my students to be thorough with their research and knowledgeable presenters who can think on their feet and are well versed on what they are presenting. I alway show the first few minutes of Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” to help students understand what a good presentation looks like. The presentation should be the backdrop to the presenter not overly animated and visually distracting.

Nothing against Googledocs, but when you want students to PRESENT and not ENTERTAIN then have them use slideshare!

I’ll leave you with this from a former colleague of mine who was helping students rethink and redesign powerpoint…

If your students are presenting on hieroglyphics, which slide looks better to as an audience member? Which slide intrigues you more? Which slide requires more presenter involvement and knowledge?

or…

When I am sitting back in the audience grading a presentation, I want to see slide #2! I have created – back in the days of primitive powerpoint (insert golf clap for alliteration! Teaching moment!) – and have sat through numerous presentations using slide #1 and it is torture to an audience member.

Two years ago our assistant principal gave a powerpoint presentation using a stoic white backdrop that was flanked by default black text. Despite numerous misspellings, the powerpoint was a flop. A flop in the vein of The Love Guru.

My point is that no matter what housing forum we use to share and embed our powerpoints, we need to understand that powerpoint is a tool for a presenter; it is not intended to replace the presenter. As teachers we must also employ this same method when presenting to our students. Many times we don’t practice what we preach and torture our students with text laden powerpoints that go on for days.

The next time you create a powerpoint for your students, think about how it would feel to view the same powerpoint you just created. What effect will it have on learning? If you are just dictating notes via a powerpoint to usurp valuable class time, then simply give them a hand out or post the note filled powerpoint on your class wiki for students to view at home, take notes and then discuss the next day in class. This will surely save class time and your students will love you for it!

I’m not saying that SlideShare will change the way we present, but it gives us an option to display the powerpoints we want, while providing a central location for viewing and sharing them.

I hope this helps in your classroom and I always welcome feedback!

April 17, 2009

Where for art thou Twitter!

I have been using Twitter for over a year. Since New Years 2009, Twitter has taken off to new heights. Everybody wants you to follow him or her on twitter, from United States Senators to Shaq, twitter has become a ubiquitous forum for those who want to know everything.

So, why is Twitter so cool? I still haven’t figured that out yet but it has become a forum for all of us to communicate and collaborate. So how can we utilize the concept of twitter in our classroom? Here are some ideas I am pondering…

…but first, let’s learn about Twitter in Plain English…

Language Arts

Objective: Have students twitter between characters in a story from the previous nights reading.

Process: Students will read chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies. After they read they will construct a twitter list between Jack and Piggy

This twitter list must include the following elements:

Setting
Characterization
Context
New Vocabulary
A twitter screen name for Jack and Piggy that reflects their character.

NOTE: Entry can only be 140 characters long! Be specific and concise.

EXAMPLE

LeaderJack: Looks like we are stranded! Fat kid is freaking out. I call him Piggy.

TimidPiggy: There are no adults here! My Auntie says I should not go swimming because of my Asthma.

TimidPiggy: Where are the other boys. Found a coch shell – Raplh blew it and we found the other children

LeaderJack: Piggy wants order. I blew the conch shell and we gathered everyone.

LeaderJack: They elected me chief!

Have students read their twitter posts out loud in class and explain why they selected their material. Segue this into a class discussion. Compare and contrast postings from other students.

Social Studies

Students can make a twitter list for historical figures. Like the language arts example, students can glean the main points of a specific historical figure and use that to understand whom this historical figure is.

Activity 1:

For homework, assign students a historical figure based on the current unit of study.

NOTE: you can also use this to personify Amendments, Bills, etc. i.e. what would the First Amendment twitter about?

Students construct a twitter list for the aforementioned assignments. Students must provide the following elements for their twitter list:

A screen name that represents the personality of the figure, Amendment or bill. NOTE: it will be the roles of your classmates to guess whom you are referring to based on your twitter information.
Organize your “tweets” chronologically.
Provide context and information pertinent to your subject.

Students bring in their Twitter list and present it to the class. Students will try and figure out who is Twittering based on the information provided.

This is a great idea for a unit review and students can use their “tweets” as a focused study guide.

Activity 2:

This activity would target secondary and middle school students.

Objective: Have students create their own twitter account and follow a US or State Senator or Representative.

Process:

Students find a US, State or local dignitary to follow on twitter.
Students will follow what the dignitary is “tweeting” about and file a twitter report each week on whom they are following

This could be a form of current events in the classroom.

Recommendations: Make sure you alert administration, parents and your tech director before allowing students to participate on twitter.

Mathematics

For math, teachers can use this tool very simply.

Every night one student will tweet a selected math problem to the class.

EXAMPLE: 32 + 43 = ?

Students will have to answer the problem by the student posted for that night as an extension of the homework.

NOTE: Based on grade level, you can make your tweets more challenging. I see this working well with more involved math such as Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus.

Colleagues

I have always felt twitter would be an effective tool for teacher collaboration. Imagine a world where your entire school building is on twitter. Your principal opens up his twitter account every morning and can see what you will be covering in your classroom today. Maybe something peeks his interest and he sends you a direct message to ask if he could drop in to see this lesson. Cool right? Unless you don’t care for your principal and feel that he or she serves a better purpose at his or her desk then in your classroom.

Or imagine collaborating with other teachers on your own twitter account. Say you are covering Hamlet and a neighboring teacher is covering the same unit. You collaborate through twitter about what you are covering each day. Maybe even set up a web cast between your students where you can discuss Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1.

The above examples are simple blueprints of what you can do within the parameters of a twitter post. And you thought only celebs and Senators could twitter! Pshawh! Also, check out TWEETDECK. It is a great forum to organize all of your tweets on your desktop!

I hope these ideas peeked your interest and that you take leap and make twitter part of your classroom! I look forward to hearing your feedback and how you have used twitter in your classroom and school district!

April 15, 2009

Replacing the yearly planner with an iGoogle Page

Every year, students receive a daily planner before the start of school. Depending on the grade level, some teachers will spend a day showing students how to effectively plan their week. For most, this is a practical tool that has worked for many years. However, it is also a tool that many students lose. What if it was impossible to lose your planner? What if it was always with you?

We can improve this method by spending the time it takes to show our students how to use a daily planner and show them how to set up their own iGoogle page. An iGoogle page is a personal space that anyone can manipulate to reflect his or her personality, lifestyle and schedule. It short, it is the one page you can turn to each day and find out everything you want to know for that particular day.

Last year (Spring Semester 2008) I piloted a new project that flattened my classroom and provided a consistent forum for information. I set up a blog page that I controlled and my students could access directly through an RSS feed on their iGoogle page. The results were great! Here is how I set it up.

On the first day of class I walked in and had all the students take out their daily planners that were handed to them by administration as they walked into the doors for their first day. I then did my best Robin Williams impersonation from Dead Poets Society, and asked them to hold them up and drop them on to the floor.

Then I turned on the projector and showed them the future of daily planning. Here is how my presentation began.

***For best viewing, increase video to full screen. Click on screen in lower right hand corner of video***

The students can add the blog to their iGoogle page and receive assignments, reminders and updates. Students can also comment on the blog if they have a question or concern. This forum is also used to organize. I am not one for papers and folders; I loose them! The blog and iGoogle page is especially helpful when a student is absent.

In one particular instance, I finally yielded the results I have been looking for since I started this “flat classroom” project. I received an e-mail from a student who had been home sick all week. He was in class on Monday (the first day of our new spring semester) when I had all of my classes set up their iGoogle page and link to the blog. Here is the e-mail:

 “Hey Mr. Marcinek, I have had a real bad cold over the last few days, but I saw the doctor today and I should be back tomorrow. I saw the assignment on the blog and wrote a rough draft, so I thought you might want that. The rough draft is attached.”

Eureka! It worked! My students and their parents always had access to the classroom. Assignments could no longer get lost! They were now a constant in the lives of my students! (insert sinister teacher laugh).

Positive Outcomes

1. Students, special education teachers and parents always had access to assignments.

2. Students could access assignments if they missed extended time in class and never fall behind.

3. Students could keep pace with class discussion threads on the blog page if they missed a class.

4. Parents could review assignments and even participate in the learning process.

5. A universal hub for students to access class information, news and anything they enjoy.

6. They could not lose it!

Recommendations

1. Use this as an icebreaker on the first day of class. Have students design and setup their own iGoogle page and present it to the class. Have them explain why they selected a specific theme and why they chose to read The Guardian news feed over the New York Times.

2. Create a rubric for the iGoogle page. Do not give students free reign on this idea. Make sure there are parameters for content they display.

a. Must have a news feed

b. Must have class blog feed

c. Must have a homework list (to do list widget)

3. Invite and consult with administration, technology directors and parents before going forward.

NOTE: I plan on mentioning this recommendation every time I blog because it is so important to protect yourself, your students and your content before venturing out into the dense forest of the internet.