Terracetimes.com started a number of weeks ago. Posts are generated by students, mostly without being assigned. In the lower grades, teachers are pulling together class projects on the curriculum in VoiceThread, MovieMaker, PhotoStory and posting them.
Are their ideas we could take away from this video which could be implemented in an elementary setting?
Click Below to Watch:
Ok, so you purchased a cheap flat screen tv when cable transitioned to digital. Your cable bill is killing you, and you watch most of your movies on Netflix on your laptop.
The only problem with that is you need your laptop while you are watching movies, to check email and other important activities.
Here’s what you do:
Just run to Best Buy and pick up the (Western Digital) WD TV Live Plus HD Media player for $99.00 (buy their cheapest $26.00 HDMI cable if your television has an HDMI plug).
Then plug your broadband Internet cable into it.
At that point, you can play Pandora, Netflix, Blockbuster, Flickr among others.
You can also play media stored on an external drive, or off any of the computers hooked to your inhouse network (anything connected to your wireless router).
Then cancel your cable (but keep the broadband).
Dear All (This impacts you):
The Department Of Information Technology sent me an email at noon today with the following information:
“Deployment of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) will begin on April 5, 2011 and run through April 22, 2011.”
This means starting today, your computer might act funny when you turn it on over the next few weeks. Don’t worry, it’s not a virus from some sinister outside source. It’s more like a virus from somebody you know.
During the first week, you’ll get an “optional advertisement” that IE8 is available. My advice is, go ahead and download it.
The second week, any computer that doesn’t have EI8 will have it automatically loaded when the computer is turned on. I think they should call that the “optional is optional” plan. You can stop it during the second week by pushing the “restart now” button while it is automatically downloading.
On the third week the “restart now” button goes away. Much like every radio tuner had to be licensed by the Soviet Regime, all computers which are turned on will have EI8 downloaded on them immediately, like it or not, no options to stop it.
So my advice is go ahead and download it when it is “offered,” optionally, the first week. At least then you’ll have the illusion you have freedom of choice.
Thanks,
(I truly hope I’m wrong about this.)
There’s been a lot of vitriol about Yahoo’s decision to deprecate Delicious. We teachers use it to share links with classrooms or schools or online networks full of people. It’s great.
Yahoo has put out a release saying they are “actively looking for a buyer” for Delicious. Here’s why they won’t find what they seek.
Delicious is a huge compilation of links, ordered by value by crowd sourcing. It takes very little financial backing to maintain, because there is no algorithm, no heavy technology. The power is provided by the community. One can go there, search for almost anything, and get very good results on a search, because only the best stuff has been put in there.
On the other hand …
Yahoo’s search depends on a huge infrastructure, constantly tweaking the technology, and monetizing by selling ranking in search results as well as (they hope) start charging subscription fees, the holy grail for online endeavors. (I mean, if netflix can get $6.90 a month, why can’t google/yahoo search?)
Here’s the thing. If Yahoo sells Delicious, they will create a competitor that will hamper their ability to grow their core business. Will Delicious under new management out-pace Google and Yahoo search? Probably not. But if Delicious survives under new management, it will be a competent alternative to a pay-for-search service which is the goal of Yahoo and Google search.
So the requirements for a buyer for Delicious would be:
1) Someone who has millions of dollars to spend
2) Someone with a business model that will never compete with Google and Yahoo search
3) Someone who will turn off the ability to search through all Delicious bookmarks
The catch is, if the new buyers of Delicious turn off the ability to search through all Delicious bookmarks, the potential revenue for the new buyer to charge for advertisements is diminished. Getting a return on their investment on a multimillion dollar purchase will be all but impossible.
I certainly hope I’m wrong.
We are studying a student newspaper mentioned in a previous posts.
I got together with our Librarian and we plan on comparing student data. Tracking students who engage with the newspaper and their NCLB Standards and DRA scores with students who have not engaged with the student newspaper.
Although open to all, students and their teachers self-select (volunteer) to engage with the student newspaper. Those that do have logins, those that do not don’t. There is also an easy way to track user posts and comments on the newspaper.
As a short term solution, we are drafting a survey of student opinions on the skill sets used in developing content for the newspaper.
In general terms we are interested in looking at how student engagement and performance in reading and writing are changed when given a student-centered, student-lead, student-self-selected writing environment.
Some questions follow. We are writing them for 5th grade and will differentiate the language and focus for lower grades.
Your suggestions in the form of comments below are welcome.
How many times a week do you do non-fiction writing which is not assigned by your teacher?
How many times a week do you write anything creative which is not assigned by your teacher?
What sort of writing do you do?
How many hours a week are you online after school?
How do you use this time?
Why do you think punctuation is important?
What is your purpose in writing?
Related Areas of Learning:
Research, Organize, Inquiry, Analyze, Reading, Writing, Purpose, Audience, Poetry, Oral Language (video interviews, voicethread)\
List of related NCLB Standards:
Oral
5.1 The student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group learning activities.
a) Participate in and contribute to discussions across content areas.
b) Organize information to present reports of group activities.
c) Summarize information gathered in group activities.
5.3 The student will make planned oral presentations.
a) Determine appropriate content for audience.
b) Organize content sequentially or around major ideas.
c) Summarize main points before or after presentation.
d) Incorporate visual aids to support the presentation.
e) Use grammatically correct language and specific vocabulary.
Reading:
5.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction.
a) Describe the relationship between text and previously read materials.
b) Describe character development in fiction and poetry selections.
c) Describe the development of plot and explain how conflicts are resolved.
d) Describe the characteristics of free verse, rhymed, and patterned poetry.
e) Describe how an author’s choice of vocabulary and style contributes to the quality and enjoyment of selections.
5.6 (Research) The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction.
a) Use text organizers, such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize information.
b) Identify structural patterns found in nonfiction.
c) Locate information to support opinions, predictions, and conclusions.
d) Identify cause-and-effect relationships.
e) Identify compare-and-contrast relationships.
f) Skim materials to develop a general overview of content and to locate specific information.
g) Identify new information gained from reading.
Writing
5.8 The student will write for a variety of purposes: to describe, to inform, to entertain, and to explain.
a) Choose planning strategies for various writing purposes.
b) Organize information.
c) Demonstrate awareness of intended audience.
d) Use precise and descriptive vocabulary to create tone and voice.
e) Vary sentence structure.
f) Revise writing for clarity.
g) Use available technology to access information.
5.9 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure.
a) Use plural possessives.
b) Use adjective and adverb comparisons.
c) Identify and use interjections.
d) Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives.
e) Use quotation marks with dialogue.
f) Use commas to indicate interrupters and in the salutation and closing of a letter.
g) Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line.
h) Edit for clausal fragments, run-on sentences, and excessive coordination.
There is an elementary school student newspaper done by a friend of mine using wordpress.
It is still “early days” but the kids are taking to it.
I’m told some student editors were appointed in 4th grade yesterday.
By this morning, they were holding court in the school library, before school started. Each had a table with a netbook and were having writing conferences with authors from their class as they edited their submitted work for publication.
No direction was given for this activity – it was organic.
Very cool stuff.
The security on it is flawless. No information is given to identify anything about the school – whatsoever. No school names, no student names, no county names, no state, no country. Very, very cool stuff indeed.
No walled garden here – just the safety of anonymity.
And the kids don’t seem to care. They know what they’ve written, and their friends and families know too.
