Presenting Profound Poetry

OVERVIEW
My project is a 6th Grade Poetry Unit. The unit takes students from an introduction to poetry all the way through their culminating activity, an online portfolio of their self written poems. I have included several links pertaining to various parts of the unit at the bottom of this presentation. The first link is to the google document for the lesson design. The google document includes numerous resources, such as links to other documents as well as websites. The second link is to a podcast that I created as an introduction to poetry. By no means is the podcast everything I hope my students gain from the unit. The last link above is to an example VoiceThread, where students will post their poetry portfolios and add audio clips of them reading thier poems.

GOALS
My goals for this unit were to create a sound unit covering the Texas learning standards for poetry. I hoped to make the unit, as a google doc, accessible to all teachers, with everything included. My results so far have not reached my expectations. I was not able to attach everything I would have liked to attach. Examples of this include my Smartboard lessons, and Classroom Jeopardy game. Eventually, I would like to have the unit totally accessible, where every resource the teacher needs is posted in one place. Also, I would like to continue to create podcasts for students and other teachers to have access to regarding poetry.

EVALUATION
I did learn a great deal from this project. Creating a unit is hard and time consuming work, but in the end it has been worth it. I have learned that there are limitless resources available to teachers on the web, you just have to dig a little to find them. I also learned that I can create a lesson, and make it available to other teachers. Creating a podcast was one of the most valuable things I have learned throughout this course. I can create podcasts, or vodcasts to make available for students when I am unable to be at school, and also for students to have access to lessons after school and on the weekends. This course has taught me that there are many different ways to teach using the Web, and Web 2.0 tools.

The Links to portions of my unit are:

Poetry Unit on Google Docs - "Presenting Profound Poetry" lesson design.

"Forms of Poetry" Podcast - An introductory lesson on forms of poetry.

VoiceThread Unit - An example of where students will post their poetry portfolios and audio clips of them reading their poetry.

Second Life

Second Life is a virtual world that allows users to create avatars and explore many different virtual islands. Your avatar can be made to look very close to the way you look, or as different as possble, it is your choice! The graphics are amazing, and the few people I came across were friendly. Some educational islands I found were:

• ISTE - International Site for Technology Education
• NASA - An island where you can explore the galaxy

Some positive aspects of Second Life:

• Socialization with others in a virtual world
• Learn about many, many different things
• A potential tool for educators
• Teachers from across the globe can meet and share ideas in the virtual world

Some Negative aspects of Second Life:

• Many potentialy dangerous places for students
• Can be hard to navigate, and time consuming to learn how to navigate
• Students could easily be distracted

There is a place for Second Life in education, but not yet in schools. Seconld Life is a plae where educators can meet to share ideas, hold conferences, and network. Eventually there could be a place for Second Life in schools. Once there is censorship, and the ability to control content available to students, Second Life would be a great place for discovery and social interaction among students.

Gaming, Kids, and Education

Games are a form of entertainment that has been around forever. Today's digital natives are increasingly interested in playing all kinds of games: traditional board games, video games, and online interactive games. Some interesting statistics I found this week are:

• 43 percent of gamers are female
• 83 percent of games are non violent
• An average eigth grader spends 5 hours a week playing games.

Games offer clear goals, lessons that can be practiced and mastered, monitoring learner progress and adjusting instruction to learner level of mastery, closing the gap between what is learned and its use, motivation that encourages time on task, personalization of learning, and infinite patience.

Gaming does have a place in Education. Educators should work to minimize competition with classmates, though some competition seems to be healthy. This is why funbrain can be good. Students aren’t playing against each other. Another positive outcome of gaming is that it teaches problem solving skills as well as other skills that are vital in the workplace as well as in the classroom. According to Ross Miller’s article “Scientist recommend Educational Gaming,” “Making logical deductions, staying on task, staying motivated and goal-oriented despite constant failure, and infinite patience are all abilities gamers have and students need.

An educational gaming site I found particularly interesting was Supercharged! The Educational Arcade. This is a site containing a game that teaches science, but through browsing the Educational Arcade site I found games that reinforce history, math, and literacy.

Social Networking on the Internet

The main thing I took away from this week’s information is that there are both positive and negative aspects of social networking on the web. Some positive aspects are:

· Students can build on the relationships they previously have
· Students can easily find peers that have similar interests
· Students can share ideas and collaborate through social media

Some negative aspects of social networking on the web are:

· Students can potentially list too much information about themselves
· Students can unknowingly make themselves available to predators
· Students might possibly become victims of cyber bullying

As an educator, I think it is very important to be aware of the risks and benefits of using social networking sites in schools. The more we know about what is dangerous, the better chance we have of preventing it. Also, I think knowledge is power. The more we educate students as to the potential hazards, the more they will think twice about how they use the Web, and what information they post.

WIKIs

The word “wiki” comes from the Hawaiian language, and means “quick” or “fast.” Wikis are used to organize and coordinate a group’s input. Anyone who visits the page has access to edit the information in the wiki. All you need to create or edit a wiki is a computer with an Internet connection. When you visit a wiki website, all you need to do to join in is:

• Click Edit
• Edit the existing information, or add new information
• Click Save
  

There is great potential for using wikis in an educational setting. Students would be active participants in the creation, and keeping up of the wiki. They will take their new knowledge and understandings, and post them to the wiki, making a site that keeps track of what they have learned. Some other uses for wikis in schools are:

• Creating and managing a school newspaper
• An e-portfolio to display student work
• Posting homework, course materials, videos, and other resources
• Posting questions for student brainstorming

Some resources I found are:

Wikimedia.org

Wetpaint

Pbwiki.com

Podcasting

I have never used a podcast in my classroom before, so the past two weeks I have learned a great deal. Podcasts are audio or video files used to deliver information to remote audiences via the internet. They can be used to introduce new concepts or reinforce previously taught concepts. Some great resources for podcasts I will use in my classroom are:

Audible.com/
www.usa.gov
masterymaze.com
science.nasa.gov
Librivox
Educational Podcast Network

Podcasts are very valuable tools for educators. Having students listen to or view a different perspective on a concept will help them to better understand that concept. As a teacher, having personally made podcasts available could be a great tool if you are scheduled to be out of the classroom. Students can still have direct instruction without you there. Also, having podcasts available for students to view at home is a great resource, as it can reinfore what was learned in class. Creating podcasts are a great way to publish student work and share it with others.

Web 2.0 Screencast

During the past two weeks of class, we have been searching for Web 2.0 tools to use in our classroom. The Web 2.0 tool I found to be most amazing is VoiceThread. VoiceThread is a collaborative application that can be used in several different ways including:

• Online Presentations
• Sharing pictures
• Conversations about literature

Since I am an English teacher, I would like to share how you can create a literature circle using VoiceThread. Watch the following video to see how to create a conversation about Tuck Everlasting.

• VoiceThread - Create

Now that you have seen how to create a VoiceThread, here is how to participate.

• VoiceThread - Participate

This application is free to use on a limited basis, but can be purchased as well. Ed.voicethread.com requires proof of being a teacher as well as a small fee. Ed.VoiceThread ensures appropriate comments and allows teachers and classes to collaboarate.