Think Alouds and Online texts

I love teaching think-alouds, but I've never really thought about teaching them for online texts. As a matter of fact, I've never really thought about teaching any strategies on online texts. I know that there are differences in online texts and print texts, but with a little modeling and good teaching of the strategies involved in think-alouds, I think students should be equipped with what they need.

I understand that we need to show them how to process information and evaluate the quality of context, but I think we should be doing these things already. Who believes everything they read in a book, newspaper, or even see on the news? We should teach them how to evaluate content knowing that people can be biased. I personally believe that channels like Animal Planet and other science channels are biased when it comes to evolution and how they speak of that theory as fact. I try to teach my two children how to think critically about what they are hearing.

I liked the list of strategies that strong readers use and agree that these should be taught by modeling and scaffolding.

Threaded discussion, webquests and social bookmarking

I do enjoy threaded discussions. I am a person that likes to take my time and I do not like to be rushed. Threaded discussions help me to be able to look at someones' thoughts on my own time and think about whether I'd like to respond or not. I don't think it is something I could use right now with my ESL students simply because I only pull a few students at a time. If I had a classroom or a larger group of students, I would utilize this piece of technology by taking the kids to the lab and posing a question to them. I think it would give students a real reason to write and be extremely motivating for them.

Today was my first experience with webquests. I feel very inadequate so far because I feel I haven't invested the time needed to really explore webquests. Today was the first time I've even looked at one. I like the way they are set up and how they deal with different aspects of learning and the process. I will use webquests in my classroom from now on. I can see these being used with my kinderartners all the way to my 5th graders. Webquests will be good for my young students because many webquest incorporate real photos of what we would be learning about and this is wonderful for those still learning basic vocabulary.

I am working on a webquest for my 5th grade students because they study the revolutionary war and this past year we took the time to read different genres that pertain to the war. I found a webquest today that incorporates different activities that center on the study of a famous person of the war. I can use many of the ideas in my own webquest. I love the idea of a bio poem. This is a great way of integrating technology with what I'm already doing. I can see it spicing up my research with my students.

I'd also never heard of social bookmarking. It sounded like women getting together to make bookmarks for a book or something. I do use my bookmarks and and my favorites and I thought this is a great way to take them with me when I'm away from my computer!!!

I think this is a great idea to show students how to keep up with their favorite sites. You could also have a class develop a social bookmark together, that way, if students have time on the computer they know exactly where to go and you as the teacher can monitor a link before it's added to the site.

What to do with this new technology?

Blogging, webcams, e-pals.....where does all of this fit into my classroom. Creating a blog has taken alot of time, but I'm pleased with the way it looks. It is frustrating to try and figure out how to do certain things and import certain things into my blog. Sometimes I forget how I did something earlier and it takes me a long time to find it again. Like tonight, I wanted to import something, but couldn't figure out how to do it. It seems like a trial and error process. No one has visited my blog, so that is pretty discouraging. I could see students getting excited about people visiting their blogs. I could see my ESL students having a blog together and linking it to our school website. I could see us posting projects on it and adding pictures of what we're doing in class. I could also see it being used as a good reason for students to write (great motivation).

I've been thinking about webcams too and how I might use them. I have a good friend who also teached ESL across town. It would be neat for our students to connect and discuss certain questions posed to them by us. I will continue to think about this.

I liked the article on epals from General Mills. I could see this being very useful. I would like to see their lesson plan, it seemed very organized with the planning. I think that there are a few adults at my church who would participate in this. I know from past experience that my ESL kids love to participate in e-mailing. It gives them a real reason to communicate. This issue I will also think further on.

What is technology?

This is a hard one!!! We spent much time in class trying to settle on a working definition. In my first computer class (computers in educational settings) our professors mentioned that to our culture (especially this young generation) that old stuff is not technology. For example, CD's, DVD players, computers and the such are not really technology because the newer generation grew up with these things. I've never thought of a clock or a digital watch as technology because they've always been around for me. Technology for me does not always make my life simpler or make tasks easier, in some ways it just creates new tasks for me to accomplish. For example, I can't imagine life without e-mail, but I sure do spend much more time than ever before chatting with people, reading forwarded e-mails, etc... Has e-mail made my life easier, I don't think so. It has just created another facet for me to communicate with others. Has it saved me time? NO, it has definitely not saved me time. I spend a tremendous amount of time on my e-mail and other computer related tasks.

What is Literacy

Literacy is reading, reading is literacy. Reading to me is being able to read words, sentences, paragraphs, articles, signs, menus, directions (and the list is endless) and deriving meaning from the text. Text is made up of letters and words, not pictures. Just because a person can think, doesn't mean he is literate. There are many new definitions for literacy, however no matter how technology changes, one still needs to know the basics of reading. Think about the definition of the word illiterate. Doesn't that mean "not being able to read or write". After looking up some defintions online Mirriam-Webster's dictionary does have an added definition of having a lack of knowledge in a certain field. Well that sure opens the door to a numerous amount of considerations concerning the definition of literacy. I guess that would make us all illiterate in some area. I still don't buy it. All of these new defintions are too much, media literacy, visual literacy. I see where these writers are coming from, however I still view literacy as having the ability to read and write.

1st Blogster

Let's try this again. This is my second blog and we will be getting a grade on this, so here we go. I'm excited about creating a blog and possibly using this with my ESL students. Most of them love to type and I can imagine how this would help to motivate them to write.