Thing Fifteen - Collaboration
I already detailed this Thing in an earlier blog entry, but to be official here it is again. Earlier this year when my students were doing their poetry unit, as their final assessment, they researched a poet, one to two of their poems and did a presentation on them. To assist in this matter, Marilyn Mauritz set the library up in a way to allow the students to view all of the poetry books we had available. Both Marilyn and I were impressed that the students did not even try to use the internet to find their poet, but rather took to the books entirely.
This collaborative effort also allowed us to tag team with the students. I, as mentioned earlier, established with the students which databases they may use for research. This made it easy for me to supervise their research. There were, however, poets that were too obscure to be found on some of them. Ms. Mauritz was able to, in these cases, work one-on-one with the students to dig deeper and find information on their selected poets. This was invaluable assistance, as I clearly would not have had enough time to get to everyone's specific needs.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Thing Thirteen
Thing Thirteen - Subscription Databases
When I did a poetry unit with my studetns, which I detailed in earlier posts, I itilized some of the subscription databases. I made a handout with instructions for the students regarding how to access the four specific sites (Grolier, EBSCOhost, ProQuest and Gale Group) from on- or off-campus. Unfortunately, none of the passwords I had were current, so I have a hundred and twenty students walking around with useless usernames and passwords. I'm still waiting to hear back from the help desk regarding this issue. Enough complaining though. The sites, especially ProQuest and Grolier, were invaluable for my students. They also loved using the sites for a number of reasons.
First, they loved that the citations were already done for them. Second, many of them actually used the bibliography from Grolier to find more detailed information about their topics. This was completely unexpected by me. Third, I think many of them were surprised that they liked the fact that they could rely on the information found on the sites. Grolier, in particular, breaks its information up into small, workable chunks, which I think was also beneficial to the students.
Fortunately for me, I was already familiar with these sites and a few others (New York Times, for instance), from doing research projects of my own in college. I remember that I didn't know about these sites for the first few years I was in college. When I found out that my school subscribed to them and they would have been available all along, I was quite angry. So, I think I come across as more excited than I should be to the students when telling them about these resources. Plus, I know how to use many of them well (Gale Group still gives me trouble, but most of the rest are fine), which may have contributed to nearly all of my students using these resources for their first research project of the year, and it turned out quite well for them.
When I did a poetry unit with my studetns, which I detailed in earlier posts, I itilized some of the subscription databases. I made a handout with instructions for the students regarding how to access the four specific sites (Grolier, EBSCOhost, ProQuest and Gale Group) from on- or off-campus. Unfortunately, none of the passwords I had were current, so I have a hundred and twenty students walking around with useless usernames and passwords. I'm still waiting to hear back from the help desk regarding this issue. Enough complaining though. The sites, especially ProQuest and Grolier, were invaluable for my students. They also loved using the sites for a number of reasons.
First, they loved that the citations were already done for them. Second, many of them actually used the bibliography from Grolier to find more detailed information about their topics. This was completely unexpected by me. Third, I think many of them were surprised that they liked the fact that they could rely on the information found on the sites. Grolier, in particular, breaks its information up into small, workable chunks, which I think was also beneficial to the students.
Fortunately for me, I was already familiar with these sites and a few others (New York Times, for instance), from doing research projects of my own in college. I remember that I didn't know about these sites for the first few years I was in college. When I found out that my school subscribed to them and they would have been available all along, I was quite angry. So, I think I come across as more excited than I should be to the students when telling them about these resources. Plus, I know how to use many of them well (Gale Group still gives me trouble, but most of the rest are fine), which may have contributed to nearly all of my students using these resources for their first research project of the year, and it turned out quite well for them.
Thing Ten
Thing Ten - Copyright and Plagairism
When I was a student and a student teacher/long-term sub, I used to see plagairism as a sort of game. I would almost be able to smell when a paper was being copied, and actually enjoyed figuring out where it came from. This was when I had time to do that sort of thing. I still make time if something seems plagairized (and, in my experience, if it seems plagairized, it usually is), but no longer enjoy the hunt as I should be doing so many other things. My students know that I take plagairism extremely seriously - nearly personally - and have failed a small number of students because of it. If our school has a plagairism policy, I don't know about it. Mine, which has been backed by the administration, has been that if I catch plagairism once, the student gets a zero on the assignment. If it happens again, they fail the class and I will turn them in for academic misconduct, if there is such a thing in this district. Forunately, I have yet to have it happen twice.
When explaining copyright and plagairism, I spend about twenty or twenty-five minutes detailing it to my students as if they had never heard of either before. By the end, my goal is that they could have no possible excuse for not understanding that plagairism is wrong. I also have a handout regarding the subject, which seems to help some of the students. However, one thing I noticed from taking the quizzes is that I haven't been clear that using pictures without permission is plagairism as well. I fixed that for my current classes, and will need to incorporate that into my plagairism talks in the future.
When I was a student and a student teacher/long-term sub, I used to see plagairism as a sort of game. I would almost be able to smell when a paper was being copied, and actually enjoyed figuring out where it came from. This was when I had time to do that sort of thing. I still make time if something seems plagairized (and, in my experience, if it seems plagairized, it usually is), but no longer enjoy the hunt as I should be doing so many other things. My students know that I take plagairism extremely seriously - nearly personally - and have failed a small number of students because of it. If our school has a plagairism policy, I don't know about it. Mine, which has been backed by the administration, has been that if I catch plagairism once, the student gets a zero on the assignment. If it happens again, they fail the class and I will turn them in for academic misconduct, if there is such a thing in this district. Forunately, I have yet to have it happen twice.
When explaining copyright and plagairism, I spend about twenty or twenty-five minutes detailing it to my students as if they had never heard of either before. By the end, my goal is that they could have no possible excuse for not understanding that plagairism is wrong. I also have a handout regarding the subject, which seems to help some of the students. However, one thing I noticed from taking the quizzes is that I haven't been clear that using pictures without permission is plagairism as well. I fixed that for my current classes, and will need to incorporate that into my plagairism talks in the future.
Thing Six
Thing Six - Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator
I have always enjoyed teaching research, though I feel as if I have not done a very good job of it in the past. I didn't know how to encourage reliable resources and only had myself to rely on when checking for plagairism. I also expected either too much or too little from my students. A tool like the RPC is going to help me immensely.
First, I feel as if I can throw more rigorous material and demands at the students as the timeline portion of the assignment will not be their responsibility anymore. They will know when things are due and get actual warnings sent to them to that end. I have found that there are several students that would gladly do the work, but are so disorganized that they literally forget about it. For this reason, I am willing to bet that this tool alone will increase the completion rate from my students by 10 - 20%.
Second, It makes my job much easier. Rather than having to remember to remind students daily of what their progress should be and when things are due, I can instead do that only rarely and be able to focus more on the daily lessons.
Third, having this structure in place gives students something concrete to consult if I am not available for soem reason (i.e. them working from home over a weekend).
A challenge, though a surmountable one, is going to be to figure out all the ways to customize the RPC to get it to do exactly what I want. I am also going to have to restructure my units a bit since it looks like the research portion is going to be spread out to give students enough time to hit signposts along their way toward finishing their projects. While I don't have a problem at all working two units at the same time, in fact I like to be able to change things up on occassion, it will take some effort to do so.
I have always enjoyed teaching research, though I feel as if I have not done a very good job of it in the past. I didn't know how to encourage reliable resources and only had myself to rely on when checking for plagairism. I also expected either too much or too little from my students. A tool like the RPC is going to help me immensely.
First, I feel as if I can throw more rigorous material and demands at the students as the timeline portion of the assignment will not be their responsibility anymore. They will know when things are due and get actual warnings sent to them to that end. I have found that there are several students that would gladly do the work, but are so disorganized that they literally forget about it. For this reason, I am willing to bet that this tool alone will increase the completion rate from my students by 10 - 20%.
Second, It makes my job much easier. Rather than having to remember to remind students daily of what their progress should be and when things are due, I can instead do that only rarely and be able to focus more on the daily lessons.
Third, having this structure in place gives students something concrete to consult if I am not available for soem reason (i.e. them working from home over a weekend).
A challenge, though a surmountable one, is going to be to figure out all the ways to customize the RPC to get it to do exactly what I want. I am also going to have to restructure my units a bit since it looks like the research portion is going to be spread out to give students enough time to hit signposts along their way toward finishing their projects. While I don't have a problem at all working two units at the same time, in fact I like to be able to change things up on occassion, it will take some effort to do so.
Thing Five
Thing Five - Create and Maintain a Teacher Web Page
When Leslie came to Humboldt for this tutorial, I was able to set up my page at http://humboldtsr.spps.org/McCloud.html. This was something that was not only useful, but fun as well. I look forward to finding all of the ways to utilize my website. At the very least, it would be nice to have a stable of lesson plans and syllabi listed there. I am currently working on this; primarily working on getting as many of my materials as possible into digital form. I am concerned about the students that do not have access to a computer outside of school, but I can't think of a way to level that playing field. I have been offering extra-credit, casually, to students who show me a library card. As a part of one of the other Things, I think I am going to make a charge to getting all of my students cards. Then, at least, they will have access to some computers if necessary even though it will take effort.
By the way, a couple of students saw my web page nearly immediately after I set it up and were joking with me about my sushi phase. They also loved the photograph.
When Leslie came to Humboldt for this tutorial, I was able to set up my page at http://humboldtsr.spps.org/McCloud.html. This was something that was not only useful, but fun as well. I look forward to finding all of the ways to utilize my website. At the very least, it would be nice to have a stable of lesson plans and syllabi listed there. I am currently working on this; primarily working on getting as many of my materials as possible into digital form. I am concerned about the students that do not have access to a computer outside of school, but I can't think of a way to level that playing field. I have been offering extra-credit, casually, to students who show me a library card. As a part of one of the other Things, I think I am going to make a charge to getting all of my students cards. Then, at least, they will have access to some computers if necessary even though it will take effort.
By the way, a couple of students saw my web page nearly immediately after I set it up and were joking with me about my sushi phase. They also loved the photograph.
Thing Three
Thing Three - RSS/Feed Aggregator
This was interesting to do. And this blog is going to be a bit of a digression, but here goes. For several years, I worked part-time for Best Buy. The in-house system Best Buy uses is called RSS, which is essentially a huge database. It is used for all inventory, personnel, merchandizing, pricing and a number of other things. I was thinking that this can't be the same RSS, and it isn't, but I come to find out from a friend of mine who does coding for Best Buy corporate that it is similar and based on the same idea, which is to consolidate massive amounts of information into lists and chunks that are manageable. I thought that was interesting at least.
I don't know how I could use this in my classroom. I think that I could establish a blog or web page or what-not and have an RSS feed for each of my students set up ahead of time so anytime I am doing a computer-based lesson, they can go to their RSS page and click on the latest lesson I will have set up. In theory, that sounds nice, like I would only have to have them sign up for the RSS feed once and it could dramatically streamline computer-based lessons.
This was interesting to do. And this blog is going to be a bit of a digression, but here goes. For several years, I worked part-time for Best Buy. The in-house system Best Buy uses is called RSS, which is essentially a huge database. It is used for all inventory, personnel, merchandizing, pricing and a number of other things. I was thinking that this can't be the same RSS, and it isn't, but I come to find out from a friend of mine who does coding for Best Buy corporate that it is similar and based on the same idea, which is to consolidate massive amounts of information into lists and chunks that are manageable. I thought that was interesting at least.
I don't know how I could use this in my classroom. I think that I could establish a blog or web page or what-not and have an RSS feed for each of my students set up ahead of time so anytime I am doing a computer-based lesson, they can go to their RSS page and click on the latest lesson I will have set up. In theory, that sounds nice, like I would only have to have them sign up for the RSS feed once and it could dramatically streamline computer-based lessons.
Thing One
Okay, so apparently I missed out on what this whole blogging thing was for. Thank you to the other teachers at my site (and especially Marilyn Mauritz) for showing me what I'm supposed to be doing with my blog, namely recording my 23 things. So, while I am only blogging about them now, I have already done several of the 23 Things.
So, Thing One - Understanding Information Literacy
Oddly enough, the thing that struck me most about these articles is how focused research needs to be to be effective. Reflecting on my own experience with research, that certainly was the case, but it's not something I've emphasized in my teaching in the past. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that by having my students go forward with somewhat vague goals, they are basically being asked to cast a wide net and sift through their "catch" to find the one or two things they were looking for to begin with. Certainly not the most efficient use of time.
I am also starting to see different ways I could rely on colleagues, particularly the on-site LMS, to assist and make assignments not only more rigorous, but more interesting and focused as well.
The majority of the information was not new, but certainly bears repeating. I stress to my students the three R's and have since I started teaching. Now, however, I am using different terminology.
By the way, those are some great quotes at the end of the third article. Love the one from Bill Gates.
So, Thing One - Understanding Information Literacy
Oddly enough, the thing that struck me most about these articles is how focused research needs to be to be effective. Reflecting on my own experience with research, that certainly was the case, but it's not something I've emphasized in my teaching in the past. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that by having my students go forward with somewhat vague goals, they are basically being asked to cast a wide net and sift through their "catch" to find the one or two things they were looking for to begin with. Certainly not the most efficient use of time.
I am also starting to see different ways I could rely on colleagues, particularly the on-site LMS, to assist and make assignments not only more rigorous, but more interesting and focused as well.
The majority of the information was not new, but certainly bears repeating. I stress to my students the three R's and have since I started teaching. Now, however, I am using different terminology.
By the way, those are some great quotes at the end of the third article. Love the one from Bill Gates.
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