Using Glogster in the Classroom
I was first introduced to Glogster by a fellow student in English 3310 as an opportunity to incorporate technology use in the classroom. I can appreciate why administrators and parents would not be entirely comfortable with students using it as content of the Glogs may be subject to the user and therefore be inappropriate, as well as outside viewing of students’ work may violate their rights to privacy. Fortunately, Glogster has the opportunity to make pages private, and would therefore prevent other viewers criticizing or harassing students and their work. As for the former, Glogster has an inappropriate content policy. When more than five users deem the content inappropriate for those younger than 18, the page is viewed and removed by the site. Hence, the site is committed to keeping its content appropriate for young people.
I think Glogster would be an excellent addition to the classroom for many reasons. First, this is an opportunity for students to experiment with technology in various mediums to improve the content of their page. It allows them to channel their creativity in ways that might be limited to them on paper. Also, students who may not be capable of affording materials for a hand-made project will be at a similar advantage as their more fortunate classmates. I think this gives the student a rare opportunity to express their learning in a way that complements their personality and creativity. It gives them the chance to combine knowledge of technology (video, music, design) and subject matter to create an impressive new product.
I would use Glogster in my classroom for students to create projects and informational pages based on the novels we’re reading or other information that is presented in the classroom. I think students will find this to be a refreshing change to the general hand-made project and be able to connect their interest in individualizing the things that interest them and the ability to share knowledge.
Ophelia Voicethread
Please check out my voice thread on Ophelia!
dr. tyson’s keynote
I found Dr. Tyson’s keynote to be very inspiring. I really appreciated how he was able to illustrate the unlocking of potential in middle grades students. As I am TOSSing right now, I am really impressed by the amount of ability and intelligence I witness from this aged child on a daily basis. I was sometimes moved to tears or anger or given chills by the examples of the students’ work. I felt really sad that he wasn’t principal there anymore. I can only imagine how rewarding his hard work and dedicating to making the school a better place must have felt like for him.
I think that so many people want to write off school time and students of this age group as yoked by standards and test scores, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that in some ways they absolutely are, but with a little creativity I think the sky is the limit.
Dr. Tyson’s work is obviously extraordinary, but his passion is evident in his voice, and I think that’s something we could all do with emulate. If we all had just an ounce of his drive and vision when it comes to our students, imagine what the possibilities could be?
It’s all been done, but let’s do it again.
The Teen Targeted Web Sites article reminded me of so many things as I was reading it. The list went from “It’s all been Done” by Barenaked Ladies to films like Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000). Particularly the film, where Shakespeare’s characters are thrust into the 21st century and subjected to translate their lives through the camera lens and excessive media stimulus and manipulation. I think it would be a compliment to the classroom activities mentioned in the article. It definitely encourages the viewer to take a step back and contemplate how advertising, media, and even film has taken part in defining who we are as individuals.
I think this is so interesting because it’s difficult to remove ourselves from media influence. At every turn, there is something to assist us with identity, culture, and coolness for the all time low-price of $9.99. I would be really interested in getting students involved with close-reading not only the subliminal messages behind advertisements, but also how these messages impact their decision making and even their attitudes.
I think a close reading of something like a Shakespeare film set in the 21st century or even the 90′s (Luhrmann’s Romeo+Juliet, ’96) are really applicable to this subject matter in a way that can tie it to literature, and perhaps even a filmmaker’s opinion of what he must do to Shakespeare to make his writing palatable to teenagers. There are so many levels of analysis that can go into how media and advertisement speak to us and influence our thinking and experiences. This would be a subject matter I’m extremely interested in exploring in my classroom. Thanks for the article Dr. Crovitz, very thought provoking.
Wikis-a better understanding…
Although I usually consider myself up to date with many of the new/popular things online, I confess that I never truly understood the wiki until this class. Certainly, I have visited Wikipedia more times in college than I can note, but I had never truly comprehended my ability to edit, view the history of, or participate in discussions about a topic on the site. Until recently, I had not known that wikis were bigger than Wikipedia. Rather, I assumed that it was a subproject of the Wikipedia site. Lately, as I was doing my marathon read of the Harry Potter novels, it was great to visit the Harry Potter Wiki site to keep all my facts and details straight. It’s a really great site, sort of like the Star Trek wiki mentioned in Chapter Four of our text. I would recommend visiting there with those odd and end HP questions.
I think that as I learn how to do more with wikis I will be interested in incorporating them, in some fashion, into my curriculum. I particularly thought that the South Africa school’s curriculum wiki was clever. How nice it would be to have all of class information so accessible! The only drawback, of course, would be the difficulty to maintain something so dense with so few contributors. At any rate, it has given me some burgeoning ideas for my classroom and I can’t wait to develop them as I learn more about wikis.
Love,
Casey
Wikipedia-a “sensible” contribution
Today I made a very small contribution to the Sense and Sensibility page on Wikipedia. You can see this in action here. It was a very humble offering, but I thought Elizabeth Williams deserved her own spot on the character list. I stuck this beneath the listing for her daughter:
Elizabeth Williams — the former love interest of Colonel Brandon. Williams is Brandon’s father’s ward, and is forced to marry Brandon’s older brother. The marriage is an unhappy one, and it is revealed that her daughter is left as Colonel Brandon’s ward when he finds his lost love dying in a poorhouse.
Sophie Loeb–encyclopedia vs. wikipedia
The Encyclopedia Americana of 1999 describes Sophie Loeb as “an American social worker and journalist, who was responsible for much of the welfare legislation passed in the New York State during the first quarter of the 20th century” (662). However, when doing an abbreviated search of Wikipedia and Britannica online, little was to be found about Loeb. Of course, neither of the entries are particularly lengthy. The Britannica source located nothing at all. Further searches outside of these mediums revealed that Loeb was Jewish, a trait that was not identified in any of the chosen mediums.
Because this is an isolated topic, I do not think this is a revelation of what source is most friendly or reliable. Rather, I find that it simply displays that no particular method is best for every topic. Instead you should rely on multiple sources for research. I wasn’t disappointed, not at all, it just kind of revealed in a literal sense why a handful of searches are superior to one or two.
One of those weeks…
This has really been one of those weeks. It began mildly enough, then Tuesday became a circus of nursing my best friend’s attack of bad chinese after she’d been sick on the side of 575. Bless her heart (and mine). Wednesday and Thursday were spent fending off a two day migraine. I did some amateur research on the internet, however, about these kind of headaches. Apparently, when they reach full-power they shut down your digestive system which makes taking anything to relieve them completely useless. I just thought the remedies I was trying weren’t helping, turns out that my migraine won’t allow them to help.
I know the right thing to do is to go to the doctor about them. My boyfriend and mother have been after me to do so. The truth is, I’m a little worried they’re going to tell me something else is wrong–like I have a tumor or a disease that’s causing them. Although I know it’s unlikely, the irrational fear is still there. At any rate, I also had someone inform me that aluminum in deodorants are known to trigger headaches and other issues. Hope this isn’t the price I’m paying for smelling fresh and clean. At the end of the day, however, I know I’ve got to talk to the doctor because they’re interfering with my life. The last time I got one was two weeks ago in Florida when I got the worst one I’ve ever had and spent nearly three days in the hotel room while everyone else had to go without me. That’s not normal. I know it’s not. I’ve just got to suck it up and go find out what is wrong.
Anyway, back to my scary week. So last night, the fire alarm in my building went off at 1:30 am. Cool. So we evacuated (my roommate and I went to sit in my truck) and watched the fire truck and police cars arrive. Around two a.m. the cop confirmed it was safe to go back home. He said I could “thank my stupid neighbors.” So thanks, neighbors, don’t count on a cup of sugar from my kitchen anytime soon. Then we came home to find that the party that was raging at the apartment above us was still going strong. Apparently even the blaze of a fiery inferno is not enough to ruin your good time. Being the snitch-like old-fogey I am, I called the RA, he came to try to calm them down. Their response was to urinate off the balcony once he had walked away. Thanks for that too. I live on the bottom floor, so their balcony is my apartment exit. Good to know those puddles ain’t just rainwater! The best part was the under-agers jumping off the balcony and running down the sidewalk when the RA’s finally broke up the party. Smooth, real stealthy of you. Yay, for finally getting to bed at 4am. Lets not make that a habit.
Today, I emerged from my residence migraine-free with an optimistic to-do list. But the week isn’t officially over, so I got in my vehicle today and cranked it up. It was doing the washing-machine stuttering again. Yay, for needing more new spark plugs. So instead of running all of my optimistic errands, my treat today was driving up the interstate to Canton washing-machinin’ along, flashers flashing. Awesome. Now I’m sitting in my grandparents’ house doing laundry (no, AC of course) waiting for all of my spark plugs to be replaced and hoping that this is only week-day bad luck and that the weekend won’t count on this streak.
Good accomplishments this week:
-I petitioned to graduate
-Student teaching application is complete and submitted as of this afternoon.
