Reflection on Reading

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````http://www.denblogs.com/discovery_educator_networ/2007/08/what-web-tool-c.html


This article poses the question " What Web Tool Can You Not Live Without?!?" and asks readers to post their answers.
Linda posts:

Ok, do I have to limit myself to one?
Voki - WOW! A great way to introduce a
lesson OR have students create characters to discuss a novel, event, or put a
new twist on podcasting.
PB Wiki - Its as good as a PB&J. I love being
able to add or subject a resource in an instant with the bonus of collaboration.
Google Bookmarks - I love being able to have
the same bookmarks no matter what computer I am sitting at.

Several people commented that they really love their web based book marking sites because they are organized and always available. I agree that having the sites in one place and accessible anywhere is a great tool.

Other sites mentioned are :

Wiki spaces- create simple web pages that group .friends,& families can edit together.

Voki- introduce a lesson OR have students create characters to discuss a novel, event, or put a new twist on podcasting.Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters…

Twitter-Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates"

WOW! So much to explore so little time. I for one am looking forward to the journey.

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Final Project Proposal

Ellen Rubin
Final Project Proposal
ECOMP 7007


As my final project I would like to create a class website for my gifted education classes. My site will contain multiple pages which will include information for both students and parents. For parents, there will be slide shows/ videos and information regarding our classroom schedule, supplies, current unit, about me, my blog and a parent resource page where they will be able to link to various sites and organizations associated with gifted education. Students will be able to access assignments through embedded video (United Streaming), link to extra credit opportunities, view daily quotes/brainteasers/word of the day, and explore links to various educational sites.

My Web Based Book Marking

I used Portaportal to create my book marks.


http://guest.portaportal.com/rubine

Reflections on Readings

I read the article:

Yoder, M. (1999) The Student WebQuest: A productive and thought-provoking use of the Internet. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(7), 6-9.52-53. Retrieved January 8, 2004 from http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/myoder/webquest.pdf

This article gives an overview of what webquests are, how to find them, and tips for creating your own. What really caught my attention was how the author describes that a well written webquest requires that students go beyond basic fact finding. Students are asked to analyze resources and information and use other higher level thinking skills.
In my opinion students become much more engaged when presented with a real world problem or situation and this is exactly what a webquest does. In fact, in my recent county curriculum writing class we were required to create performance tasks and performance evaluations that will reflect higher level thinking skills. ( much like a webquest) The links to resources and tips for finding relevant sites were helpful as I plan to introduce more webquests this year.

My Web Presenatation

I will be working with Nancy Story to present the following site: www.ology.amnh.org
This is a site created by the American Museum of Natural History.

Reflections on Readings

I read the article:

Vesey, K. (2002) The Internet-only Research Approach: Does the Web Really Have All There Is to Say? From Now On The Educational Technology Journal. Retrieved May 31, 2005 from http://www.fno.org/sept02/internetonly.html

The main focus of this article is webquests and the validity of the sites in which students are linked to in order to research.The article is written by a media specialist who questions whether or not the internet alone is enough when searching for valid information. He takes the time to investigate the individual sites that students are linked to in a variety of webquest activities. I found the results of his investigation quite disturbing. Many of the linked sites were created and posted by people who were not credible experts. He also makes the point that our school libraries are full of valuable and accurate resources that students may not access because they are only focused on web based resources.
Mr. Vessey created his own version of an inquiry related lesson and calls them libraryquests. These are designed to model a comprehensive research process which will include other resources as well as the web. Unfortunately, I was unable to view his site because the URL could not be found. (http://www.lovett.org/libraryweb/projects.htm),
I think the article really gave me some food for thought as I begin to implement webquests in my classroom. I will continue to require different types of resources for student research, and I will definitely take the time to investigate links provided in webquests created by others and in my own creations.

Reflections on readings

I read the article:

Blogging and RSS: The "What's It?" and "How To" of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators. Multimedia and Internet@Schools, 11(1)., Richardson, W. (2004)

I found this article to be quite interesting and informative. I'm glad I read this article after having had some practical experience with blogging and RSS over the weekend. After a brief overview he goes on to discuss the impact on education. He links to a school whose principal has jumped on the bandwagon in a big way. The Meriwether Lewis Elementary Web site [http://lewiselementary.org/] features the latest in news and events related to the school and community. They are collected from a series of separate Weblogs that are hooked together using RSS. How cool is that?Another part that appeals to me is that the content is the focus and not the design of the website.
One teacher used weblogs to dialog about the book "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
the author herself even joined the discussion. Students also were able to post original art work related to the book.

In terms of RSS the article gave a few ideas about what types of feeds educators may want to subscribe to. You really can find yourself on the cutting edge of information if you take the time to research and subscribe to the right feeds. I will continue to reflect on how I can incorporate RSS and weblogs into my curriculum. The possibilities seem to be endless.

Wikipedia

Here is an interesting article about the accuracy of wikipedia as it relates to education.

I'm a blog immigrant

This is my very first attempt at blogging! I'm excited about using one to communicate with my students and their parents because I only see my class once a week.