In the last couple of chapters, which translated into my last couple of blogs, the book Content-Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide has focused on writing to learn, writing that is intended to help students build meaning and synthesize concepts we cover in class. Chapter 5 in the book shifts to "Public Writing," which is "intentional, highly polished pieces that can go out into the world, connect with real readers, get some work done, and stand up to scrutiny...we expect students to take the time, do the thinking, and invest enough effort that they can say: 'This is my best" (p. 112).
One point that is emphasized regarding public writing, is that it is a process. We shouldn't just give the students a handout or rubric with directions, say here you go, and expect high-quality work. Sure, we all have students who would do fine under those conditions, but can we honestly say the majority of our kids would turn in high-quality work? I know as a middle school teacher I hear teachers who leave out the process complain about how the kids "should already know this." But, if we always assume someone else will teach them, will they ever learn what we feel is essential for them to know? Okay, back to the idea of process, this includes (and this is veery brief) choice, giving kids time to write and allowing opportunities for feedback from themselves, peers, and us along the way.
Another aspect about the chapter I like was a box entitled "What About Plagiarism?" We all know how much easier it is for kids to copy and paste now a days, no more poring over the encyclopedia with a pencil, now a few clicks and boom, paper done! This box suggests that we rethink the writing assignments we give to help discourage the copy and paste; these examples they give on page 117 of topics that can be reworded to reinforce the same concept, but not as easily plagiarized:
Easily Plagiarized Forces Originality
Describe the functions of different parts Compare parts of a cell to parts of a car.
of a cell.
Explain the importance of vectors in math. Show how vectors are involved in the game of
chess (in the layout of a city, etc.).
Why was the Twenty-fifth Amendment repealed? Under what circumstances might the Twenty-fifth
Amendment be reinstated.
I love these ideas, and I look forward to the next couple of chapters, where they promise more ideas of how to get students to take ownership in and engage in public writing.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
To Blog or Not to Blog...
Okay, sorry, I couldn't help the cheesy allusion in the title. Chapter 6 in my book, Web Literacy for Educators is about...you guessed it, blogs! As well as RSSs, Podcasts, and Wikis, but the majority of the chapter focused on blogs, more specifically, how we as educators can and should utilize blogs as part of instruction. In the first paragraph of this chapter, November makes a powerful statement, that the focus "is connecting students to an authentic audience and challenging them to create work that can have an impact around the world." What a mind-blowing concept, that our little 8, 12, 16, or whatever age students you work with, can have an impact not just in our own little classrooms, but in the world.
In the portion of the chapter that focuses on blogs, November addresses the concern that many educators and parents have when we think of students using free blogging sites, the questionable content that is out there. He challenges educators not use this as a deterrent, rather ascertains that it is a learning opportunity as we "revisit the upside of preparing students to understand the ethics and social responsibility that comes with all of this global power." He then goes on to point out that, while many blog sites may be blocked by school filters, as this seems to be an "easy fix" for the problem of questionable content, students are still going to have access to those sites outside of school. So, rather than "blocking" or ignoring the issue, why not take it as a teachable moment/s, to teach students how to deal with the questionable material that exists and enforce the notion of the responsibility that comes with the use of sites, such as blogs. Also helpful in this portion of the chapter, were ideas for how to use/ways to use blogs in classrooms, including: discussion topics, build community (post events, homework, etc. for parents and students), publish student work, create a forum for collaboration, and build a body of knowledge. He gave a fascinating example of one math teacher who gave his students the task of producing notes, illustrations, and examples of concepts taught in class on a blog, which resulted in a "Student's Guide to Understanding Calculus" at the end of the year. Therefore, rather than reading a calculus textbook, students basically created their own textbook. That blog, http://pc40s.blogspot.com/, has actually been linked to hundreds of Web sites, "including conferences and commentaries by leading educationalists and other math teachers," talk about a global audience! This is another point made by November, that by utilizing blogs, "Teachers are no longer the sole or even the primary arbitrator of student work. It is even possible that teachers do not have to work as hard to motivate traditionally failing students or to set much higher expectations for excelling students. parents can now have access to the writing of an entire class, compared to only what their own child brings home written in their hand."
Since the majority of the chapter focuses on blogs, I'm just going to briefly touch on the other components of the chapter. One was the use of RSS, which is a way to "automatically receive new content produced on the blog without having to go back to the blog Web site." This is a good way, as an educator, to receive new information about any topic you desire. He also suggests students can use the tool to get information for given topics, for example, a research topic. Next in the chapter is information about Podcasts, which are audio or video files which can be downloaded to numerous devices. Teachers can use Podcasts to relay information to students, or can even have students create their own Podcasts on a given topic. And last, but certainly not least, is the section on Wikis. A wiki is "a Web-based tool that allows people to work together on a single piece of writing or body of work." November explains that this format is an easy to use tool that "will allow teachers and students to work collaboratively in a protected environment." Teachers can choose to protect their wiki page, so only people with a password can contribute to the wiki.
Along with these valuable tools, comes valuable learning experiences, and responsibility, for both students and teachers. Students must learn to be socially and ethically aware and responsible for the words they choose to use in any of these mediums, and we, as eductators, are charged with helping students learn these responsibilities. After all, "Over time these tools will change, but the ability to expand our boundaries to a global community and open up new methods of authentic assessment is here to stay. These are technologies our young people are currently using and many will be expected to use once they enter the workplace. Providing them with guidance and positive role models about how to harness their power is essential."
In the portion of the chapter that focuses on blogs, November addresses the concern that many educators and parents have when we think of students using free blogging sites, the questionable content that is out there. He challenges educators not use this as a deterrent, rather ascertains that it is a learning opportunity as we "revisit the upside of preparing students to understand the ethics and social responsibility that comes with all of this global power." He then goes on to point out that, while many blog sites may be blocked by school filters, as this seems to be an "easy fix" for the problem of questionable content, students are still going to have access to those sites outside of school. So, rather than "blocking" or ignoring the issue, why not take it as a teachable moment/s, to teach students how to deal with the questionable material that exists and enforce the notion of the responsibility that comes with the use of sites, such as blogs. Also helpful in this portion of the chapter, were ideas for how to use/ways to use blogs in classrooms, including: discussion topics, build community (post events, homework, etc. for parents and students), publish student work, create a forum for collaboration, and build a body of knowledge. He gave a fascinating example of one math teacher who gave his students the task of producing notes, illustrations, and examples of concepts taught in class on a blog, which resulted in a "Student's Guide to Understanding Calculus" at the end of the year. Therefore, rather than reading a calculus textbook, students basically created their own textbook. That blog, http://pc40s.blogspot.com/, has actually been linked to hundreds of Web sites, "including conferences and commentaries by leading educationalists and other math teachers," talk about a global audience! This is another point made by November, that by utilizing blogs, "Teachers are no longer the sole or even the primary arbitrator of student work. It is even possible that teachers do not have to work as hard to motivate traditionally failing students or to set much higher expectations for excelling students. parents can now have access to the writing of an entire class, compared to only what their own child brings home written in their hand."
Since the majority of the chapter focuses on blogs, I'm just going to briefly touch on the other components of the chapter. One was the use of RSS, which is a way to "automatically receive new content produced on the blog without having to go back to the blog Web site." This is a good way, as an educator, to receive new information about any topic you desire. He also suggests students can use the tool to get information for given topics, for example, a research topic. Next in the chapter is information about Podcasts, which are audio or video files which can be downloaded to numerous devices. Teachers can use Podcasts to relay information to students, or can even have students create their own Podcasts on a given topic. And last, but certainly not least, is the section on Wikis. A wiki is "a Web-based tool that allows people to work together on a single piece of writing or body of work." November explains that this format is an easy to use tool that "will allow teachers and students to work collaboratively in a protected environment." Teachers can choose to protect their wiki page, so only people with a password can contribute to the wiki.
Along with these valuable tools, comes valuable learning experiences, and responsibility, for both students and teachers. Students must learn to be socially and ethically aware and responsible for the words they choose to use in any of these mediums, and we, as eductators, are charged with helping students learn these responsibilities. After all, "Over time these tools will change, but the ability to expand our boundaries to a global community and open up new methods of authentic assessment is here to stay. These are technologies our young people are currently using and many will be expected to use once they enter the workplace. Providing them with guidance and positive role models about how to harness their power is essential."
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Everything on the Internet Isn't True???
“Don’t just teach your children to read…
Teach them to question what they read.
Teach them to question everything.” - George Carlin
While George Carlin may be controversial for many of his views and strong opinions, I think the above quote is something any educator can agree with, particularly when doing research online. Students are fortunate on one hand because they have access to practically unlimited information online, often at their fingertips, as more and more students acquire smartphones, ipods, ipads, and numerous other mobile devices, with which they can "google" any question or topic. On the other hand, many students fall into a false sense of security, believing almost everything they read online. Therefore, as educators, we now have an obligation to not only teach students how to use technology, but also, how to think critically about the information they access using that technology.
In Chapters 3 and 4 of Web Literacy for Educators, Alan November addresses the issue of validating information on the internet. He uses the acronym REAL, as a sort of mental checklist students can use when trying to decide what is "real" information on the web.
R stands for "Read the URL." November suggests that students should be able to identify domain names and extensions (such as .org, .edu, .com, .gov, etc.) as a first step in deciding how authentic information may be.
The E stands for "Examine the Content." The basic premise of this step is teaching students to look beyond the initial appearance of a website, going back to the old adage, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." This is to help remind students that, although a website may look "cool" or authentic due to fantastic graphics, colors, presentation, this is no guarantee that the information included on the site is factual.
Next is A, which stands for "Ask About the Author and Owner." In this section, November points out that "one of the beauties of the Internet" is "anyone who wants to be an author or publisher on the Web can easily fulfill that dream." Of course, we as adults, know that this results in the publication of much false information. As our students are developing online research skills, we can teach them to identify the author of a website (when available) and therefore question the motive of the author when publishing the information.
And last but not least, L is for "Look at the Links." During this last step, November encourages students to explore the forward and back links of a website to help a student "evaluate whether a site contains biased, false, or quality information."
I know I glossed over a lot of the information included in these information rich chapters, but I wanted to get across the basic premise of helping students begin to validate information they access on the web. One very helpful resource at the end of chapter 3 is an "Examine the Content Worksheet." This has students record the URLs of sites visited, then circle yes or no for the following 5 questions:
1. Is the information on the site helpful?
2. Does the site have more resources and links? Do the links work?
3. Is the site up to date? Can I tell when it was last updated?
4. Is the information correct?
5. Are the facts different from information I have found elsewhere?
This seems like a pretty easy, yet extremely useful "checklist" to have students use.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
I’m guessing many of you, like me, have gone online to
search for information, lessons, etc., only to find nothing, or at least
nothing “useful” in the many results of your search. Alan November starts Chapter 2 with an
anecdotal story of watching a teacher intern search for information on a
compass. When the intern typed in
compass, a number of “sponsored” sites came up, including REI, which is the
link the subsequently clicked on. If the
intern had been looking to purchase a compass, REI would have been a good
resource, but since she was looking for information about the workings of
compasses, this link was not the best resource.
The point of November’s story was to introduce the topic of doing effective
research online. The chapter focuses on
how to search most efficiently, to explain how search engines work, and to
introduce online resources that might help students as they conduct research
online.
November explains that framing is very important while
conducting online research, which I’m sure many of us have found out through firsthand
experience. He finishes his story about
the intern’s search for compass, by sharing that he explained to her that
changing her search “…to the phrases ‘how to read a compass’ or ‘magnetic
declination’” to find more effective results, and to ignore the “sponsored”
results, which are the first few results that usually pop up when conducting an
online search.
Other useful information November includes in this chapter
is clarification of how search engines work.
He explains that they use “programs called robots or spiders..which roam
the web and collect information [which] is pulled into a search engine
database, where it is indexed into smaller chunks of information. When you conduct a search, your keywords are
match against the search engine database…Search engines do not search the
entire Web at the moment you enter keywords into the search box. They only search within their own databases.” While, in hindsight, this makes sense, I had
no idea that this was how search engines operated. Later in the chapter, he relays that web
savvy page creators can use the search engine process to their advantage, by including
many key words, to get their page listed near the top of your search results,
even when their site may not include the most reliable information.
Also included in the chapter was a brief explanation of some
of the types of material on the web, including: electronic textbooks, podcasts,
blogs, and directories. November
included some helpful search tools, which seem to be very “student-friendly” including:
Overall, this chapter helped clarify some workings of search
engines, and included useful information and resources to help make the most of
research online, something we all know can consume hours of our time!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Essentials of Thinking Critically Online
So after pondering my last post, and reading some great suggestions from Pam and Thomas, I realized that starting with the "basics" may not actually be "basic" for some students. I guess I take for granted that students will come in with knowledge of how to access information online, an assumption that can be erroneous.
Pam and Thomas suggested a baseline assessment might be a useful tool, and why not, since we use pre-assessments, whether they be formal or informal, quite a bit in education. I then realized that at the end of chapter 1 in the book, there is a short "quiz" over information presented in the chapter, and that quiz would actually be a quick way to determine students' familiarity with internet basics. It is only 13 questions, most of which are multiple choice, and tests knowledge of things like: links, URLs, domain names, and truncating a web address (which I hadn't done before reading this chapter). While I initially thought the information in the chapter was perhaps a bit too basic, I have since reconsidered, and realize that I cannot assume students know this information. Furthermore, knowing these terms is part of being web "literate." If students are able to use google, bing, or other more advanced search engines to find information, that is great, but then knowing how to assess the validity of the information is perhaps the "next step" and we can help students begin to think critically about the information they find, through steps such as truncating a web address.
In addition, this chapter (and all of the chapters in the book) have boxes titled "Try This." These boxes have quick activities the students can complete to put the information put forward into practice. For example, the section titled "Truncating a URL" (pg. 12), teaches how to truncate, which "... is done by clicking at the end of a Web address and deleting all characters up to the previous left slash. Each time you delete to the previous slash, you move up a level in the organization of the site. You can delete right to left until you finally end up with just the domain name - which is generally the home page of a site." (pg. 13) The "Try This" box then gives students a URL to practice this technique. I didn't include the URL because, unfortunately, that particular URL is no longer valid, testament to how quickly the internet changes! But, after doing some searching of my own, I found some URLs which could be used in class to teach students this concept.
All in all, I guess I realized that I should not make assumptions about what students will know upon entering my classroom. And, maybe starting from the basics, if needed based on students' previous experiences, is not so bad after all.
Pam and Thomas suggested a baseline assessment might be a useful tool, and why not, since we use pre-assessments, whether they be formal or informal, quite a bit in education. I then realized that at the end of chapter 1 in the book, there is a short "quiz" over information presented in the chapter, and that quiz would actually be a quick way to determine students' familiarity with internet basics. It is only 13 questions, most of which are multiple choice, and tests knowledge of things like: links, URLs, domain names, and truncating a web address (which I hadn't done before reading this chapter). While I initially thought the information in the chapter was perhaps a bit too basic, I have since reconsidered, and realize that I cannot assume students know this information. Furthermore, knowing these terms is part of being web "literate." If students are able to use google, bing, or other more advanced search engines to find information, that is great, but then knowing how to assess the validity of the information is perhaps the "next step" and we can help students begin to think critically about the information they find, through steps such as truncating a web address.
In addition, this chapter (and all of the chapters in the book) have boxes titled "Try This." These boxes have quick activities the students can complete to put the information put forward into practice. For example, the section titled "Truncating a URL" (pg. 12), teaches how to truncate, which "... is done by clicking at the end of a Web address and deleting all characters up to the previous left slash. Each time you delete to the previous slash, you move up a level in the organization of the site. You can delete right to left until you finally end up with just the domain name - which is generally the home page of a site." (pg. 13) The "Try This" box then gives students a URL to practice this technique. I didn't include the URL because, unfortunately, that particular URL is no longer valid, testament to how quickly the internet changes! But, after doing some searching of my own, I found some URLs which could be used in class to teach students this concept.
All in all, I guess I realized that I should not make assumptions about what students will know upon entering my classroom. And, maybe starting from the basics, if needed based on students' previous experiences, is not so bad after all.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
To Start at the Beginning or Not, That is the Question
As I begin reading Web Literacy for Educators, I realize that the book is designed to move from the basics to more complex ideas and information. When I say basic, I mean very basic information, from "What is the Internet?" to "Domain Names" to "URLs." Most of the information is common knowledge to someone who has at least some experience with the internet. However, there are some good points about the importance of understanding how sites on the internet are structured and why it is sometimes important to know about these basics. For example, "We spend a great deal of time teaching students how to find print information in a library - it's just as important to teach them how information is organized on the Web...Reading a Web address is often essential to establishing the authenticity of the Web site." While I knew a little about URLs and domain names before reading Chapter 1 of the book, I now have a better understanding of these basic concepts, and picked up a few things I can share with my class, that might help students as they try to determine the validity of sites they encounter while conducting research.
I guess my question after reading the chapter is, how essential is it to teach students these very basics? When we are teaching students who are, oftentimes, extremely immersed in technology in their everyday lives, should we assume that these basics are essential for navigating technology, or, if we attempt to start with these very basics, will we lose the interest of students, for many of whom, the internet and technology are second nature?
I guess my question after reading the chapter is, how essential is it to teach students these very basics? When we are teaching students who are, oftentimes, extremely immersed in technology in their everyday lives, should we assume that these basics are essential for navigating technology, or, if we attempt to start with these very basics, will we lose the interest of students, for many of whom, the internet and technology are second nature?
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Attempt 1
Through my course in digital reading and writing, I've become familiar with many theories about and examples of using digital media to enhance the learning experience of my students. I've been able to learn more about how students brains are perhaps wired differently in this day and age, and why there is a need, not just a desire, but a real need, to change the way we do and view some aspects of instruction to meet our students "in the middle." While many educators may be reluctant to use more digital media, or may be uncomfortable doing so because they themselves are unfamiliar with using technology, I now believe it is essential that we begin a shift in this direction if we are to motivate and inspire our students. After all, the jobs they hold in the future will surely incorporate technology we currently do not have. If we want students to have the confidence to navigate this new technology, do we not need to lead the way by example?
There are many resources to help educators become more familiar with ever-changing technology, such as Alan Novemeber's Web Literacy for Educators, which literally starts with the very basics, for those of us novices.
There are many resources to help educators become more familiar with ever-changing technology, such as Alan Novemeber's Web Literacy for Educators, which literally starts with the very basics, for those of us novices.
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