Thing Twenty-One - YouTube and More
I have used YouTube for years (I'd guess four, maybe more), but it was usually just to view a funny home video I had heard about or a music video or the like. I never thought to use YouTube in the classroom, which is good because apparently it was only recently allowed as a viewable site from school computers. Now, however, I see something on T.V. I like and think could be useful in the classroom and instead of having to TiVo or record on VHS (I don't have a DVD burner hooked up to a television), I can simply bring up the streaming video in my classroom and pipe it over my LCD projector. I've only done this once so far, but it worked out well.
Oops, now that I think about it, that wasn't from over YouTube, but rather the site that owns the rights to the show. I am certain, however, that I could have gotten the same thing from YouTube.
I checked out some of the videos on TeacherTube and Yahoo! for Teachers and, while they are interesting, I am not sure how I would bring them into my classroom. That said, there are, I'm sure thousands more videos to view and something would be bound to work.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thing Eighteen
Thing Eighteen - One Student Thing
My students ove Smart Boards. Once they got over the initial shock of how much they cost, students are enamored with the idea of an interactive screen and willingly admit that proper use of a Smart Board helps them learn a great deal. I, unfortunately, do not have one in my room, but I know several teachers who do and do marvelous things with them. Some of our math and science teachers, in particular, have done great things. For instance, Lee Barnett, a math teacher of ours, was actually able to flip a fraction upside down to show what a reciprocal is. Students that we share actually offered that information, unsolicited, saying that they had never understood what a reciprocal was despite the fact that they had learned about them every year since 5th or 6th grade (10th graders now). Plus, many of them expressed that they enjoy being able to use the Smart Board themselves (i.e. it's not just for teachers).
My students ove Smart Boards. Once they got over the initial shock of how much they cost, students are enamored with the idea of an interactive screen and willingly admit that proper use of a Smart Board helps them learn a great deal. I, unfortunately, do not have one in my room, but I know several teachers who do and do marvelous things with them. Some of our math and science teachers, in particular, have done great things. For instance, Lee Barnett, a math teacher of ours, was actually able to flip a fraction upside down to show what a reciprocal is. Students that we share actually offered that information, unsolicited, saying that they had never understood what a reciprocal was despite the fact that they had learned about them every year since 5th or 6th grade (10th graders now). Plus, many of them expressed that they enjoy being able to use the Smart Board themselves (i.e. it's not just for teachers).
Thing Sixteen
Thing Sixteen - Using MnLINK
I have used ILL in the past on many occassions, though I have never used MnLINK. While I was in college, I used ILL for research often and occassionally for fun as well. For instance, I went through a big 60's acid rock phase, but didn't want to actually go buy all of the albums. Instead, I borrowed them from the library and by the time they were due back, I was kind of over that phase anyway.
On a more academic note, I have found so many books I thought impossible to get to be available through ILL and have taken advantage of the service many times. I think that MnLINK could be helpful to my students, particularly once they start their research projects (starting March 10th, by the way). We have a good number of books at our school and we all know how much information is available on the internet, but to do actual in-depth research on something will require specialty texts which I doubt that we have or are available on the 'net. Given that it oftentimes does take a while for ILL to come through (at least, in my experience it did), if I get the students on the idea fast enough, many of them should get their books in time to use them on their papers.
I have used ILL in the past on many occassions, though I have never used MnLINK. While I was in college, I used ILL for research often and occassionally for fun as well. For instance, I went through a big 60's acid rock phase, but didn't want to actually go buy all of the albums. Instead, I borrowed them from the library and by the time they were due back, I was kind of over that phase anyway.
On a more academic note, I have found so many books I thought impossible to get to be available through ILL and have taken advantage of the service many times. I think that MnLINK could be helpful to my students, particularly once they start their research projects (starting March 10th, by the way). We have a good number of books at our school and we all know how much information is available on the internet, but to do actual in-depth research on something will require specialty texts which I doubt that we have or are available on the 'net. Given that it oftentimes does take a while for ILL to come through (at least, in my experience it did), if I get the students on the idea fast enough, many of them should get their books in time to use them on their papers.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thing Fifteen
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.
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.
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.
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