Dr. Zhao

Dr. Zhao struck me as being a prognosticator, foreseeing what is needed for the future of education. One thing he stated was that there is not enough competition in the US. It does seem like it is getting to be politically incorrect to have competition. When there are teams and someone wins, then everyone has to win so self-confidence isn't hurt. I think his point was that some competition is healthy because it gets students to think creatively and to do a little bit extra, to go beyond. If everyone has the same reward, wins the same medal, for example, then some will not try anything new. The Olympics are a great example. Participants in gymnastics added new things to their routines so that they could score higher to get that gold medal. They became more creative and pushed themselves, and new routines were shown, routines that may inspire others to also be more creative. If everyone did the exact same routine and got the same reward, creativity probably wouldn't exist.

Collaborative Project

This has been a challenge right now, but I think the pod casts and discussions will spur me to think more about collaborative opportunities for my students and for members of the National Junior Honor Society, which I co-advise. For Skills Lab, which is mostly writing, I might be able to have students write collaboratively. One thing I do is work on organization, using the video, "The Day Lincoln was Shot" as a starting point for an essay that shows Lincoln as a father, a husband, and a President. The whole class can watch the movie, with group 1 taking notes on one aspect of Lincoln's personality, how he is as a father, while group 2 takes notes on his role as a husband, and the third takes notes on his role as President. Then a student from each group would come together to write the essay, including proofreading and typing. (This needs some refining!)

Reflection 2

Since this is the most recent site, it seems appropriate to comment on its use! The possibilities for sharing are endless with del.icio.us. I think that's why they separated the "us" in the URL! The site is for us. It is so easy to add bookmarks and tags that it could be a quick toll for adding them for students. For example, when working on a DBQ for social studies, bookmarks could be downloaded quickly for students to glean some background information for their DBQ. When doing a research paper, this would be an excellent way to preview some sites and bookmark them for the students so they don't waste time looking where they shouldn't be looking!
As stated before, I really hope to use blogging to get discussions going about literature and wiki for fostering some student collaborative writing. (Maybe if they write in pairs, they will enjoy the process a little more!) Along professional lines, I hope to share bookmarks with the ELA teachers that I'll collaborate with for Skills Lab. All these ideas have given me something to think about for my professional goals for next year.

Lesson 6 Wikis in Classroom

I added a "Comment" on the wiki site after going through it and also reading others' comments. It aurprised me at how easy it was to do for someone way out of her comfort zone!

Video resource review

These online video resources are going to add so much to the classroom! New Vista shows promise. The 70 podcasts were especially enlightening because the ones I watched were by students. It would be fun to see if my students could submit a podcast of their own. Maybe there could be a classroom contest where all the students highlighted "Life in Hilton/ Hamlin, NY etc." The writing piece would be a chance for them to write a script. They would need help on the actual production piece, but it would be exciting to see what they could come up with. It might be expanded to a tech project, but I would need help to enable students to do the videography piece. Hmmm... I'll have to give it some thought. At any rate, the 5 minute podcasts were great quickies that students could watch when there is that extra time in class. They'd be especially god for social studies, especially since there are so many from Japan, hence WW2 could work. When I'm working on writing for social studies, I might be able to incorporate them into a compare/contrast piece.
In contrast, YouTube is a bit broad. Teachers would have to screen the podcasts carefully before students got on. Then we'd have to watch to see if the kids are indeed watching what we picked! On a personal note, my nephew downloaded a clip from a baseball game in the 1950's with Babe Ruth etc. in it as well as my father-in-law and other of my husband's relatives. The family has really enjoyed watching it. With this in mind, teachers could download a personal video to this site and have kids watch it. I'm thinking of a video that might have been done on vacation with the idea of showing it in class--Mark Twain's home, for example.
TeacherTube can be a super resource. I loved it. I wish the podcasts had a one sentence synopsis on them so there wouldn't need to be a preview. I watched a "Cry Me A Verb" video, which was about Spanish verbs and wouldn't help me much! I loved the humorous "Welcome Back to School" podcast and plan on using it on our first day. Hopefully, the kids will enjoy it as much as I did/will! Sally C