Getting Your Paper MLA Ready

Lol - never thought I'd have a youtube account. Note to self - I need to do this for the Parents on the school website!!!

4.3 Reflection: Social and Professional Networks

Think about how the Internet has impacted your own personal learning, communication, and sense of community. Write a new post that includes a screenshot showing your participation in a social or professional network, and a summary of how you use that network for personal or professional connections or for new learning. In your post reflect on:

• When does the Internet help your learning? When does it distract from good learning for you?
• How might your answers to these questions be similar to or different from the answers your students might give?
• How might you support your students in using the Internet as their own personal learning space?

The Internet can be a huge help to my personal learning in a hundred ways.  I do online research, read about current events, get answers to quick questions (just last weekend, I used my phone to Google the scientific name for lapis-lazuli when my daughter asked if the gems we were looking at were also lapis).  I looked to youtube for information about using skitch and a couple of other apps while deciding which one to present in our group project.  Of course, I also watched a few other videos that were suggested in this ad-intensive business, including a REALLY funny analysis of the worst music of 2012 before I reminded myself that I was supposed to be doing something productive with my time.  There are so many different personal and professional possibilities: facebook and email/newletters to stay in touch with my friends and family.  I have porfessional resources on RSS feeds through my Google Reader account, and scoop.it and diigo for more related articles, and memberships for an ERWC group and haiku and CTAP and groupfusion etc for ways to incorporate more information into professional practice, and linkedin for professional networking and so many more that I don't even check into often enough because I still have to do the job - which is the reason I'm looking at all of these resources.  It can be overwhelming.

It seems like all knowledge is somewhere on the Internet.  And so much misinformation!  To use a personal example, a few years ago, someone made a wikipedia entry about my site along with blurbs about the teachers.  Then someone logged in and changed some of the blurbs and, as it turned out, I was actually not myself but Antonio Banderas in disguise.  Hey, at least the hacker made me sound awesome!  

But just last Friday, one of my colleagues read a report to her class about how Gerry Ford traveled through time to shoot Abe Lincoln in an effort to show students that not all info on the Internet is true or useful.  In an era when I have at least one student ask every year if The Odyssey was a true story, it's a little alarming that the Internet makes it even more difficult to tell fact from fiction at times.  Students are unwilling to distrust the main source of their entertainment - they insist constantly that their high-volume headphones don't distract anyone (even when I'm telling them that the irregular beat I hear from across the room is distracting to me).  They insist that Family Guy is the epitome of story-telling and that their time is better spent watching a cartoon in which a mentally deficient, overweight man-child fist fights a chicken-mutant-thing than doing any rational thinking of their own.  Refusing, even, to explain why that scene might be so appealing to an audience when it has nothing to do with the rest of the story in the episode.  Most of my students think that stopping every twelve seconds to check or respond to a text message is somehow helping them to concentrate on the task at hand until the next exchange.  Maybe it's a particularly long week talking here, but a lot of younger people today seem to see technology as a teat rather than a tool.  I sincerely hope that using more technology to drive education changes this; and it reinforces for me the need to make sure students who choose a fully online option have the conceptual view that technology is a tool and not an easy way to simply be somewhere else.

How to help students see that distinction?  I'm struggling with that even with my own kids.  At home and at school I find myself repeating things like, "We're doing work right now," or, "How is that ________ going to help you in real life?" It helps to keep students task oriented.  There is a specific job to do, with specific time frames.  We use the Internet to do things, not merely to be kept from being bored.  I'd hate to limit students to particular links because that negates the kind of authentic research that students should be able to do.  Maybe a personal dashboard or portfolio - like when we had to keep our personal dictionaries in 2nd grade, or show a collection of sites used for research like an annotated bibliography for a report.  Tools like diigo or scoop.it and evernote would come in handy for this.  And these are shareable, so students can access research sites from their peers and/or teachers on their quest to find more/more relevant information.  I think I convinced myself here: task orientation along with a way for students to keep track of info and share relevant (annotated) research places would help students see the Internet as a tool rather than a toy.  Maybe it's something that needs grow from the students - I have my personal self and my professional self, and the overlap is carefully controlled and has been since I was very young.  My students rarely have that - maybe they are more integrated, or maybe it's a lack of maturity, but most people need to delineate what is private and personal from their job.

scoop.it is an online curatorial tool that allows members to "scoop" info or articles into a sort of online magazine; it also trolls through other members' magazines to find other articles of possible interest.  I have a practice one with some resources to share with classes:

diigo is a bookmarking tool that allows members to tag and annotate links to websites and share lists with other people:

Google Reader is a tool that collects RSS feeds from bloggers and websites so that users are updated on changes and additions as they happen from the sites that are selected or "followed":

The Blame Game

Now that we have finished Romeo and Juliet, it’s time to decide who (or what) is the most responsible for their untimely deaths.  You will discuss the characters’ roles with your group, and each group will post a response assigning the various characters a percentage of blame with a detailed explanation of why your group blames him/her/it.  The percentages for all elements must add up to 100.  This is due Thursday, ##/## by 11:59pm.*

Characters (in order of appearance):

Benvolio

Tybalt

Prince Escalus

Lord and Lady Montague

Lord and Lady Capulet

Romeo

Mercutio

Nurse

Juliet

Friar Lawrence

County Paris

You may also include anyone or anything else that may have been to blame for the youths’ suicide, such as the various servants, the plague, fate, etc.

After all groups have posted, each individual must read all the groups’ responses and reasoning, then write a response to at least one group supporting (with evidence from the play) or challenging (with evidence from the play) their post.  Your thoughtful response is due no later than Monday, ##/## by 11:59 pm.*  Reminder: All posts must be polite, academic, and specific to the play.  You may use your list of sentence starters .  You will be graded according to the rubric below:

	A	C	F
Group Post	Assigns percentages to all characters with detailed reasons and evidence from the play and other resources.    All evidence is cited.	Assigns percentages to the culprits involved.    Some reasoning, or may overlook relevant details from the play.  May or may not use other resources.  All evidence is cited.	Blames only one or two sources.    Limited reasons.    Limited use of evidence.    Fails to cite the play.
Individual posts	Challenges or supports one or more groups’ posts using evidence from the play.   Uses polite and academic language in a thoughtful response about culpability.   Cites additional evidence to support the response.	Challenges or supports at least one other group’s post.   Uses polite and academic language.    May only repeat evidence used by the group, but cites any reference to the play.	Attacks the group.    Uses inappropriate or demeaning language.    Fails to offer a response.    Uses inaccurate evidence or fails to cite additional relevant data.

*Responses posted after the deadline will lose one letter grade.

You will receive a related prompt for your individual essays after the deadline to post responses.  This is a good opportunity to use your classmates' knowledge in order to make your essay the best it can be!

Module 3 Reflection

Reflect upon what an activity in your classroom might look like using one or more of these Web 2.0 tools. Think about:

• what the experience looks like for students.types of outcomes students might have.
• how the outcome is tied to curriculum objectives.
• what Web 2.0 tools are aligned to the outcomes and lead to higher order thinking skills.
• kinds of directions or guidelines you will provide in order to ensure success.

Write a post that briefly describes the activity you would create and how could you might minimize possible challenges students and the teacher might have to address. Make sure that your activity is aligned to a learning objective, and uses verbs from the top three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. In a later module, this activity may be one component of a larger unit you create.


This week, I was thinking about the CCSS Listening and Speaking elements and how that might be taught in a blended environment.  Voki sprang to mind, even though this week was the very first time I had even heard of the program and it seems to have been around for some time.  Wouldn't it be fun, and much less threatening for most students, to have a small project through the program:

Students will be given a monologue from a (probably Shakespearean play) to read - probably, I would pass out four or five speeches.  Each student would receive a random speech and be responsible for reading and understanding the contents, and researching a little of the storyline to help with the context if needed/or all the speeches would be from the same play that we were about to read.  They would have to write a paraphrased speech using modern language or slang and perform the speech through the Voki avatar. Groups could be assigned or random depending on how the speeches are distributed.  In groups, students would create an avatar through Voki that resembles the speaker of the lines, and read and record the speech/their version of it.  The recording could be posted online or presented to the class.  The timing of the presentations could even be staggered so that as we come to each speech in the play, students could hear their peers perform it!

CCSS Standards from http://www.scoe.net/castandards/agenda/2010/ela_ccs_recommendations.pdf	How it relates to the assignment:
Comprehension and Collaboration 4. b. Plan, memorize and present a recitation (e.g., poem, selection from a speech or dramatic soliloquy) that: conveys the meaning of the selection and includes appropriate performance techniques (e.g., tone, rate, voice modulation) to achieve the desired aesthetic eff ect. (9th or 10th grade.)	Comprehension and collaboration is met through the facts that students must comprehend the speech well enough to paraphrase in their own vernacular.  Then, they must agree on a common version for their group and, even though one person would be speaking, the group must all agree that the performance conveys the tone, meaning, and emotion that the speech implies.
Knowledge of Language 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.	Again, they would have to understand the text in the original form and apply their knowledge of language to realize the meaning more fully and prove comprehension
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaff olding as needed at the high end of the range.   By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.	Both the 10th and 12th grade standards require students to be able to read independently and proficiently.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas 5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of fi ndings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9-10 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 32 for specifi c expectations.)	I'm taking some liberty here, as this is meant to apply to information more than literature, but using digital media and adapting a speech for the purpose of proving comprehension fit with the spirit of this standard as well.

The directions for a blended class are probably the most difficult as we move instruction onto the 2.0 web.  It's almost like being a new teacher in that I have no examples of past student work or the experience about what is likely to cause hang-ups.  For example, the culminating project for the poetry analysis project in my class is always to have students apply the techniques to a song.  I know, after a couple of issues, that there must be guidelines and a failsafe for refusing certain colorful songs from the classroom; that interpretations must be at least PG- rated, and any graphics also have to pass the PG rating.  I usually tell students if they would feel uncomfortable hanging their poster in a church or their grandma's living room, then it doesn't belong here.  So...the guidelines and instructions are probably going to be very different the second year.  But here goes...

Voki Speech Analysis Project (part 2)

Now that you have read, understood, and paraphrased your speech.  It is time to create a presentation.  You will work with the other students in our class period who have also paraphrased the speech.  Together, you will review the speeches and collaborate on a new version that best conveys the meaning of the original.  When that is done, you will create a Voki account and create an avatar that represents the speaker.  Finally, your group will be responsible for recording the revised speech so that we can hear the meaning of the speech, the way the speaker most likely would have said it, and the emotion the author meant the character to be feeling.

(I would probably show an example I did of an original for meaning/intensity and student examples once I'd done this)

Your grade is based on the following:
1. Your individual paraphrase of the speech (50)
2. The final paraphrased copy of the speech from your group (50)
3. Your reflection on your participation and contribution to the project (30)
4. The Final product (150)
    a. speech changes tone and intensity in a way that helps us understand the character's emotional state
    b. speech uses words and phrases that appropriately convey to a modern audience the meaning the original author intended
    c. the Voki avatar is a reasonable representation of the speaker
    d. the speech is smooth and fluent, the reader has practiced and does not 'stumble' over words and phrases (someone did not just read the speech)
    e. the project is ready on the appointed due date
5. Individually, you must be able to relate the speech's meaning to the rest of the play when we are done reading it. (50)
6. Partner report card (20)

Part of the challenges are going to be getting it done on time and with the equipment available.  Having the project turned in will be easy - I have students email projects pretty regularly; also my district has a groupfusion website that allows an assignment drop sort of like the dropbox in haiku.  The technology aspect will be tough for some, but I have a laptop and LCD overhead projector, and I will be able to walk people through.  I can get around my district's firewall right now by using savevid.com.  Online, I've found a few youtube tutorials, and after we work on the screencast assignment, I'm pretty confident I'll be able to create one that won't be blocked by my district.

Most of the challenge for this project will be getting students through some challenging language - but online tools like m-w.com and even sparknotes might help with that.  

Web 2.0 Tools Group Presentation

Module 2 Reflection

The assignment for this week was a wiki embedded Venn-diagram comparing the different models of teaching in regards to using technology: Face to Face, Blended, and Online.  Just in case, I've embedded the diagram again here, because my computer kept freezing and I like to make sure (paranoia is never good, but my compulsive tendencies to make doubly sure of some techy things will, I hope, be helpful as an online teacher).

Module 2 Reflection:
1. Reflecting on the information covered in this module so far, how might your instructional methodologies need to change in an online or blended learning environment?
2. What skills and strategies might you improve or expand upon in order to best support student learning in a blended or online environment?

The availability of online content means that I will have to spend less of my time reviewing, practicing, coming up with practice exercises or running copies; instead, I will have to focus on gathering and organizing that content and having students prove their knowledge.  Vocab quizzes seem obsolete; but blogging about a themed set of words and sharing the posts/stories is a more entertaining alternative to using each word in a sentence (actually, I already have that as an option, but some students don’t want to appear ‘nerdy’).  So one of the areas I need to expand upon is my own knowledge of web 2.0 possibilities, and building up a repertoire of activities that lend themselves more to online productivity.  I think that’s the only uncomfortable part of all this – I’m good in the classroom, I’m good at enticing kids to pay attention to me (at least until the next text) and catching them when their attention strays; I’m good at adapting instantly when I need to because I have so many methodologies, strategies, alternate assignments, etc. in my mind and at my fingertips.  Finally, I will have to develop my web-presence.  I’m fun in the classroom, but online? I am such a noob.

Page 5 of our module 2 “classroom” mentioned, “At a simple level, consider the difference between knowing how to post messages on a discussion board versus understanding how to use a discussion board to create a lively educational class debate.”  This is like a round-table or fishbowl discussion.  It will take some experimenting for the online version of appropriate interaction, but I’m already really good at setting up discussion questions – in fact I did it in college once or twice when a professor didn’t have the question up.  The weird thing is, these kinds of questions are usually more towards the end of the lesson when I’ve already asked most of the comprehension questions.  I guess these will have to be asked at the beginning, and the content comprehension questions will have to be handled by the content providers?  Still, when I think about lessons, I think about the long-term end goal, and then think about "what will students need to understand and do today" so that I can check understanding, give feedback, etc.  I can't imagine having students turn in essays paragraph by paragraph online.  And since the spell check and grammar check are already here, maybe I won't have to focus on those as much?  Maybe the time I would normally spend on that instruction will change to discussions and monitoring those discussions.  How I think about how instructional time is spent (and even thinking that instructional time is limited to less than an hour at a sitting) is going to have to change!

Other skills included communication skills, tech savvy, time management, and relating to students.  I'll start with the last, first: So much of my ability to relate to students and make content relevant depends on non-education moments, like noticing a kid is tired, or discussing some new video briefly between classes. Online learning seems to promise to cut down time spent on disruptive classroom behavior (yay!) but what about all those little things that make people relate to people?  Still, I already specialize in learning things about students through writing, so I think that, with practice, I'll be okay.  Michelle R Davis, in “E-Learning Seeks a Custom Fit,” says, “Within each of those [online] courses are multiple ways to access the content, Vedoe says. Some students may click on audio and visual material provided with the text, but since doing so isn’t required, others may bypass those features. Students may feel more comfortable communicating with their teacher through a wiki, through e-mail, by instant messaging, or by telephone. All those means of getting in touch are options…”  ( Technology Counts, Education Week, February 3, 2010).  So again, it's a matter of learning to use what's available (and learning it well enough to teach some students and keep up with the others!)  Luckily, I am pretty good at writing; but I don’t think that’s good enough since I have had many students tell me that they really don’t understand some things until it is read aloud to them. So I will have to learn more about skype and including podcasts or similar in content.  It makes me a little nervous to think that the majority of content might be controlled by some vendor.  Based on what I’ve experienced in several textbook adoptions, vendors are really good at selling and usually not as good at teaching.  That said, even if we have awesome content, fantastic tech training, etc., there are still those students who don’t “get it” without someone walking them through it.  I’ll need to expand my knowledge of tools to help those kids.  The advantage is that, in online learning, I can work with one child at a time without worrying about one of my taggers adding his or her artwork to the inside cover of a text book the moment I'm otherwise occupied.


I have pretty good time management skills, communication skills, and my current position requires constant checking-in and monitoring not only students assignments, understanding, and grades, but their exact hours of attendance and equivalent work hours in their course(s).  I'm not worried about the intensity of the job at this point because I'm used to "intense."

Organizing content is something that I work on a lot in the classroom.  The challenge here seems to be front-loaded in terms of time and is required upfront in the course.  As I said in the first reflection, I know that the organization of online content and pacing are the things that I need help with and was the impetus in taking this course.  So I'm lookin' forward to Module 3.

Personal Learning Goals for Leading Edge Certification

Personal Learning Goals for Leading Edge Certification

The main reason I selected this course, besides the fact that CTAP has always delivered useful and meaningful instruction, is that I see that society is continuing to increase our dependence and application of technology.  In order to strengthen my own technical ability (I am considered part of the “paper-trained” generation, after all) and make myself adaptable as an educator, I know I need to further my education.  Being better educated myself means I can be a better asset to my students and my district.  Specifically, I am interested in being able to teach the occasional elective or, as my district is expanding online programs, I’d like to be able to teach an online course if the need or opportunity should arise.

As we were asked to review several resources to determine our readiness for online education, I was struck by three things.  First, the so-called survey had “wrong” answers!  Perhaps this is an English teacher phenomenon, but I was surprised that my honest answer, ‘I’m not sure how I feel about technology,’ was not a scaled issue, but a flatly wrong answer.  I realize this is beside the point, but it does reinforce one of my concerns as a regular classroom teacher in this century: how do I keep the content of computer-related activities relevant to tech savvy students without overwhelming my students who, for numerous reasons, just have not been exposed to very much technology?  While the colorful, animated, multi-layered glitz of web content is going to be attractive for students, is it really better for those students who are easily distracted or, and I’ve had a couple of these, adept hackers?  (I mean, I’m a little tempted to go and check my facebook and email accounts right now, but I’m pretty disciplined and won’t until the work is completed – but there are students who will lose their phones in class every day because they just cannot seem to stop themselves).  Obviously, I’m in the course, so I see a lot of positive potential, but I like to think I’m taking with me a healthy dose of reality.

Second, I noticed, as I trolled different "how to be a good online student" surveys and advice columns (including how important it is to keep a clean home! Like students have tons of time to think worry about things like that never quite shrinking pile of laundry that needs to get done...eventually...), that it matters how the information is organized, how it looks, how easy it is to get from one page to another, the links, etc.  It really helped, for instance, to know that I could click and drag URLs to become bookmarks in Firefox or right click and open in a new tab so I didn't have to worry about going back and forth.  These are simple things, but I'd be having so much trouble without them!  Still, just to be sure I really didn’t lose track of information, I went ahead and bought the Evernote app from Google play.

There is so much out there, and so much more out there everyday, that I see I will also need a way to network and review new technologies to stay abreast of developments.  RSS feeds and blogs and CTAP in particular are great resources, but I don’t always have time or energy to investigate things as much as I would like.  Even if I did, I need a blue print to be able to incorporate such into classroom use.

Finally, I see that I need the help of re-envisioning instruction without the advantage of face-to-face time.  I’ve always relied on student expressions, immediate questions (from kids and random assessment), progress, and so forth of regular classroom management to help me determine how well students are engaged and understanding content.  I can convey a LOT of meaning through simple facial expressions or modulating my voice – always to fit the circumstances.  Kids like my passion, I like theirs, and a lot of that comes through in interaction.  So again, organizing and presenting online content is becoming the center of this learning trip.

As far as readiness goes, I scored a “B” on the survey from Foothill College, indicating I’m generally ready for online learning.  I’m glad to hear that since I’ve completed two online courses already.  But those were a couple summers ago when my kids generally slept at the same times.  I like the asynchronous nature of online learning as…well…life happens.  Scheduling a specific time(s) is a good idea, but not always possible.  Between changing practice times for my sports stars, the inevitable network or car troubles, and a full workload, it’s hard to meet at a regular time (and honestly, 7:00 on a weeknight was havoc for me, but probably ideal for many others).  Obviously, I lost that point in the survey.  On the other hand, I’m an avid reader and a competent writer – I cannot say the same for all of my students, particularly the ones who are most interested in not having teachers push them to become better readers or writers.  I won’t be able to spend 12 hours a week "studying," but I doubt I’ll need to since I read well and fast and I’ll be doing other things (sorting laundry, doing dishes, waiting in line at the grocery store) while mulling over coursework or even typing.  I’m sitting in a salon now while one of my kids gets a trim.  This is a dedicated act, but not really dedicated time.  The nice thing about online courses is that the deadlines are not the end of an hour class.  I am concerned about the level of tech expertise required to learn online for myself and my students, but I’m a good student and a good classroom teacher, so here I am.

I’m ready to advance my career and become a better teacher, especially for online teaching and learning.  I want to focus on the organization and the best (current) ways to get content across in a variety of instructional venues from traditional to purely online.  And I'm certainly ready to do this online.