Reflection for 12/13
I can’t believe it Wednesday night already?! December always seems to fly by so fast. Too little time, too much to do!
I did read Cynthia’s comment on my last reflection. She mentioned that I haven’t written too much about accessible content media. This is very true. The media component of our unit has become the last frontier for our project. I think we have put that portion of the project off for two reasons. 1. Unfortunately, I have not spent a lot of time thinking and planning in terms of accessible media in the past. I have integrated technology in lessons, but of late, I have stuck to predictable, “usual” (for example: word processing, projecting sites on my laptop, etc.) technology rather than really branching out and trying new modes of teaching and learning. 2. The second reason for the procrastination on this front is that we are less knowledgeable about this area of lesson planning and delivery. And, the unknown scares us (read: me)… a lot.
The good news is… we know a lot more about accessible content media now than we ever did before taking this course. Also, we have seen the benefits of implementing accessible tech into our lesson plans. Now, we just need to bite the bullet, suck it up, and tax our brains a little to find the right fit for accessible content media in our writing unit.
Some ideas for implementation of accessible content media…
1. Julie has found some PowerPoints on unit material that were sent along with our language arts curriculum kit. The PowerPoints would be great to use to kick off the unit. I think the kids will enjoy this format of lesson launching, in lieu of simply reading the same material in the text book.
2. We are planning to create a Wiki (or perhaps blog) for the kids to use for reading responses.
3. I toy with the idea of having the students create an electronic presentation about American symbols in order to teach the idea of symbolism.
4. The easiest connection: we will have kids type their stories and edit their work in Appleworks or NeoOffice. I am also planning to have the kids use the text-to-speech capabilities on their laptops to help them edit their work.
5. Our textbook is available online (and on audio cd), so I plan to have kids read the stories while listening to them read aloud. (We will also do a low-tech reading of each reading to work on fluency.)
6. We could teach a literary device in a Web-Quest format, as well. (For example: We may want to teach metaphors by first visiting sites to learn what they are, then visit different sites to see samples of metaphors, next visit sites where kids need to pick out metaphors, and finally, write some of their own metaphors in a wiki or a blog.)
That’s what I have to far… I plan to work with the group tomorrow and see what ideas we can generate. I am really excited to teach this unit. I think my students will really enjoy the engagements and the technology connections. Looking forward to feedback!
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I know what you mean about December…I still find myself in denial every Christmas morning as I watch my kids eagerly anticipate what (or what not!) they’ll find under the tree.
I really like your ideas for how digital content media can be integrated in your unit.
1. PPT can be an effective way to give kids a visual as you’re teaching them something new. For 6th graders especially, its a good idea to keep the slides image- and visual-based rather than text. Of course, the content will determine what makes sense (literary devices do come in words, don’t they?!!), but it’s still important to keep a balance…not too much text per slide. Also, kids need to see/observe good models of presentations and delivery so that they can learn this skill, too.
2. I like the wiki idea. Blogs might also work, but they might be more work based on what I know about your unit. Have you checked out pbwiki? pbwiki.com/wiki.php. Well, I just took some liberty and created a wiki for you guys to test drive. I’m waiting for the e-mail confirmation, so I’ll move on to #3 and come back…OK, it’s created! I called it “bbhh” so the URL is bbhh.pbwiki.com I also had an e-mail invite sent to you. If you need the password, it’s “literarydevices”
No pressure on you guys to use the wiki – I wanted to examine them during the course, but other things took precedence. Let me know if you’d like to discuss this more. (I didn’t send the e-mail to Janet, Julie, or Nathan, fearing that the message itself would greatly confuse them. If you read your e-mail before coming here, you were likely confused, too!)
3. Teaching about symbols in different contexts would be a nice feature of your unit (but I realize how full it already is). I mention the following only because it immediately came to mind – During an MLTI workshop I facilitated on Friday, a discussion of “favicons” came up. “Favicons” are those little symbols that appear just in front of a Web address in the address field of your browser (typically its either a blue ball or the icon of the Web site you’re at). You can learn more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon Well, you might have guessed…there’s a Web site where you can create your own favicon. Actually, there are many! I realize this goes beyond the scope of your objective (not to mention the unit!), but I couldn’t resist putting this bug in your ear. I haven’t taken the necessary time to figure out the logistics, but it has potential for engaging kids in the idea of symbolism and creating visualizations. oooh – the PBwiki Team e-mail just arrived…back to #2!
4. I’m developing some “application guides” in support of the technology that we examined over the semester. One of the guides will be annotating text using the callouts in NeoOffice. If AppleWorks is preferred, I believe that annotations can be created via hyperlinks, but I’ll check that out.
5. It’s nice to have text available in inherently digital formats!
6. WebQuests are fun and educational! You’re probably familiar with The WebQuest Page – webquest.org/index.php
Thanks, Amanda. I obviously enjoyed your post! Good stuff.
Cynthia