Web 2.0 in the classroom

Most students can at this point put an adult to shame with their knowledge of navigation of the web. What better way to shock them into paying attention, but bringing out the the new technology. Students seem to want more work on the computer, not less. Every time I bring the library class to the computer room, their eyes light up and they want to know what we are doing today.
Of all the new bits of technology that we have investigated during the semester, I found the webquest the most satisfying. It was the very difficult to organize and feel comfortable with, but making me step out of my comfort zone was important. I had a teacher friend be very supportive and wishing I had followed her request to do a slightly different topic, but I'm doing something for my UVM class with her students to keep her happy.
I have used a wiki before, and looking around for eportfolio sites to make your own site really wouldn't be something I'd pass on to students, but to other educators. Librarians have to be able to support staff as well as students. (I truly dread having to teach my first inservice.) I know this class has impacted my sense of confidence to handle lots of different topics and questions that come my way.
Melissa S 11/29/09

To Vlog or Youtube?

What did I find when I looked into vlogs? Well, I discovered there's a world beyond Youtube. I went to vlogblog and found out that there are well organized sites with a variety of helpful vlogs or videos. I liked WonderHowTo, Monkeysee and Videojug. On vlogblog I searched for some information on vlogging, etc. To my surprise, I kept coming up with Youtube videos. I guess Youtube was the first and what people still search. Monkeysee had some well-done videos on pet care, performed by a veterinarian, and the site seemed well organized to find topic material. I also liked the way Videojug was organized. Checked out some of the family information videos just for interest. Monkeysee has a byline of "see how the experts do it" and information included on the page for the video of the expert in the video. One on car care even included a phone number as well as a website. I liked this site and felt that the authenticity was founded. I would like to look into this site more for more ideas. Check out some of these for yourself and see if you find them better than Youtube.
Melissa S 11/22/09

One more try

This is the embed code to my presentation. I'm really having problems getting this to post.

Sir Ken

Teaching to the tests. Sound familiar? Gotta pass those NECAPs, NAEPs ,SAT9's. Or the dreaded checkmark may visit your school. I thought about something I saw recently,(sorry I can't remember which class) about high schoolers taking the SAT or ACT and how they couldn't apply the Pythagorean theorem to the problem and most got the answer wrong. Isn't Bloom about using what we have learned creatively? Applying it to new areas to solve problems? And back to the original thought-is teaching to the tests teaching us to be less creative? I think so. As a librarian, I see students 40 minutes a week. Same for the music and the art teachers . How can we incorporate more creativity into our students' day with less and less time being spent on the arts? What does it take for teachers to differentiate lessons so that options for assessment can meet a student's learning style? How can we gently nudge the student's into another style of assessment that may expand their creativity and learning?
I often wonder about the grants that allow schools to investigate an arts program for a week, month, quarter. How do the grades of the students change during that time? How is their attention in class? What does the opportunity to break out of the mold of regular school routine do for the students? Has anybody tried to pay attention to these things or are the days too busy to even think about assessment during these times? Just a thought.
Melissa 11/15/09

10 slides finally done

Just another place to locate my 280 slides presentation. I guess I'm afraid I'll never find it again.
http://280slides.com/Viewer/?user=29854&name=Red%20Clover%20vs.%20Caldecott&fullscreen

Powerpoints, everybody sing-a-long!

At the beginning of the school year, I had the enjoyment of meeting and watching Will Richardson present to the supervisory union faculty inservice at Killington. He was awesome. Animated, great support in his powerpoint, links. Made me want to get back out there and 2.0 the students with everything I had in me. Thank goodness Will spoke in the morning and had a plane to catch out of there, so he didn't have to sit around for the lackluster presentations later.
Did you ever have to watch a powerpoint presentation where it felt like, "follow the bouncing ball! everybody sing!" One of the teams of presenters which came after Will, literally read word for word the information on the screen. Where Will's presentation was colorful, with varied text, had links with audio, paused for audience interaction, etc., these presenters had overcrowded slides, colors that were not bright or varied, and absolutely said the same thing that was on the screen behind them. No variation from the script. To present, you have to have a little bit of actor in you, I understand. But anyone who's been up in front of a classroom of rowdy kids should have a pretty good grasp on getting and keeping the attention of their audience. I actually started to feel bad for the students these people were teaching. How could they be effective educators when they were putting the whole room to sleep? Maybe I'm being too harsh, I wasn't the one in front of a hundred people. However, as educators, we need to be able to ad-lib a little. I can definitely see where just giving the bare minimum on the powerpoint slides and filling in the gaps with an interactive lecture style would be a far more effective presentation. Making text of varied size and changing background colors to emphasize the transitions in the presentation, can all add to audience appeal and make you a more effective presenter. I can see I'm setting myself up to really have to do a great job on this forthcoming project. Will Richardson's book, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms"; anybody looked through it? A bit overwhelming, but a powerful teaching aid. Educating our students to be information literate is really becoming every teacher's job.
Melissa 11/5/09