tweenteacher.com » internet literacy

CATE keynote: Project Based Writing

heather — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:48:53 +0000

I recently presented at the CATE conference to a great audience of enthusiastic teachers. CATE, the California Association of Teachers of English, is a great organization with an amazingly supportive group whose heart beats with the love of the Writing Project, Reading Project, and all things authentic learning.

I presented on the topic of Project Based Writing, and while this keynote may not make sense to many of my readers, it will to those who were in the room and emailed asking to have it. So I’m posting it here.

Feel free to download the Quicktime of my keynote here. It’s sans sound, but you’ll get the idea.

In addition, I’ve included links to my handouts (sorry, we ran out that day!) because I know some teachers are looking to start jumping in right away.

CATE Handouts (10 Reasons to Teach Using PBW, Great TED speeches, Advocacy and Executive Summary Outlines)

Problem Statement

Teacher Created Resources Internet Literacy Handouts

Checklist for TED

Checklist for Career Quest

Checklist for Teach the Teacher

Many of the documents here I have been developing and tweaking for some time, and in 2013 some of them will become a new workbook from Teacher Created Resources called Project Based Writing. ?Check back next year for news on the book’s release date.

Hope these all help, take care, and if there’s anything else you guys need, let me know!

-Heather

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Post tags: authentic assessments, cate, internet literacy, project based writing, Teacher Created Resources, writing project

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“Internet Literacy: The Genre” : CUE 2010

heather — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:00:53 +0000

Thank you as well to those of you (wow! there were a lot of you!) who attended my “Internet Literacy: The Genre” session at CUE.

As promised, here is the keynote itself to peruse at your leisure. As with everything on my site, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License .

Bottom line: please feel free to use it in the classroom and for educational purposes. It’s my pleasure to share.

The worksheets are reprinted with permission from my workbook published by Teacher Created Resources. If you are interested in purchasing the workbooks for grades 3-5 or 6-8, please click here.

Please copy and paste the following links:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4234943/Internet%20Literary-%20The%20Genre.key.zip

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4234943/CUE%20Handouts.pdf

Thanks again for attending. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

-Heather WG

aka Tweenteacher

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Post tags: education, genre, internet literacy, k-12, media literacy

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Teaching Secrets: Finding a Job That You Love

heather — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:33:00 +0000

Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article.

It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even, through the education jungle.

-Tweenteacher

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, classroom library, classroom management, collaboration, common language, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, employment, free, fundraising, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, peer teaching, performance pay, professional development, technology, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, TLN, top 10, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Internet Reading: The genre

heather — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:58:38 +0000

So I’m sitting here pondering the titles of the two curriculum books I am currently writing on teaching Internet Literacy, and I can’t help but wonder if reading on the Internet isn’t its own genre all together.

I mean, I know that reading online takes the form of any other genre depending on its content, but the format is unique: headers, sidebars, ads, flash, menu bars, etc…

So doesn’t reading online specifically take different skills then reading any other genre? Isn’t it a combination of genres, combined with a social genre of sorts? Isn’t the fact that it is a 2-way read justifiable in identifying it as its own category of literature?

And if we were to identify it as a category of literature, would not more teachers see the imperative need to teach to that genre?

Thoughts?

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Post tags: Ed Tech, internet literacy, TLN, Writers Project

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The “Sweet Spot” in Interactive Whiteboards courtesy of Robert Marzano

heather — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:06:19 +0000

CUE scored Marzano.

As he began his keynote presentation on Friday at the 2009 Computer Using Educators conference, Robert Marzano confessed that he had been slow on the tech bandwagon, only recently researching enough to see what all the fuss was about. But by the end of test study, after test study, after test study, he soon realized that using certain ed tech strategies resulted undeniable successes in student achievement.

There are four strategies, he says, that are irrefutably changing the future of education, that, without proper adoption, would doom us to be “dinosaurs” in our practice.

But he warned us that while there are “no silver bullets,” there are “silver bbs,” and a teacher must decide “which combination of silver bbs is best for [their] classroom.”

And of the four points he talked about, the leading teaching strategy that Robert Marzano felt was a true breakthrough in education (aside from the use of the internet which he is currently studying), was the use of the Interactive Whiteboard and its Voter-Response Technology.

(...)
Read the rest of The “Sweet Spot” in Interactive Whiteboards courtesy of Robert Marzano (404 words)

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Post tags: 100% accountability, achievement gap, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, education, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, middle school, robert marzano, voting

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How to be an Ed Tech Advocate

heather — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:26:24 +0000

OK, guys. So I got it from the horse’s mouth at CUE. According to the ISTE Director of Governmental Affairs, No Child Left Behind is not going away.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the Obama administration talked the talk, proving that Educational Technology was on their radar, but if you’ve been listening, the silence on Ed Tech has since become deafening. (...)
Read the rest of How to be an Ed Tech Advocate (515 words)

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, budget, CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, EETT, equity, ETAN, fundraising, internet literacy, k-12, k12, learning, lobbyist, middle school, NCLB, obama, online, school accountability, school funding, technology, Title I, tween, UCI, writing

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Is EdTech changing how students think or is it addressing the changes in student thinking?

heather — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:13:02 +0000

Science Daily is reporting that there has been a shift in how students are thinking as a result of their use of technology. They believe it possibly lowers critical thinking skills and analysis. Additionally, they wonder just how much schools should be catering to this change.

The important thing to remember is that when we talk about differentiation, we have to include all forms of teaching, from traditional pencil and paper to the use of technology. But if we were to ignore the evolution that is occurring, that of the transition our brains our making as a result of society’s onslaught of daily technology, we would not be doing our job.

(...)
Read the rest of Is EdTech changing how students think or is it addressing the changes in student thinking? (437 words)

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My New Interactive Whiteboard…an update

heather — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:17:02 +0000

OK, you know when you get a new puppy and you love it and you couldn’t live without it and then you find out it has hip dysplasia?

That’s a little of what my relationship is like with my new Interactive Whiteboard.

I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I have come to depend on the tools it provides me. I love it.

But I am consistently re-calibrating, re-starting, re-booting, and it so far won’t read the kids remotes. I have come to intimately know the board representative. We have each other’s cell phone numbers and my husband is starting to raise an eyebrow. I have also had tremendous support from our Director of Technology and the few other district pilot teachers.

But the bottom line is that the board has become a daily joy even while I have daily frustrations. And like that puppy that you automatically fall in love with because of the joy it brings you the minute it comes into your room, I am going to do everything I can to make it work.

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Post tags: blog, collaboration, computers, critical thinking, curriculum design, curriculum development, data, Ed Tech, education, ELA, integration, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Title I, TLN, Writers Project, writing

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Judging Websites for History Day

heather — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:08:02 +0000

Yesterday I was proud to judge a number of our group website entries for our History Day competition. Three of our history teachers use History Day as a project-based learning opportunity for all of their students. These students have their projects judged in their different categories by going through the process of oral presentation in front of a panel of teachers and administrators. From this group is selected those who will represent our school at the next level of the competition.

It was fascinating seeing my own students through a different lens. Groups of students came in front of my panel, some in suits, and some in the tuxes they perform in for orchestra, to present their websites. The theme this year was “Actions and Legacies: Individuals in History.” We saw websites about everything from Rockefeller to Ho Chi Minh.

The students for the most part used either Google or Synthesite to develop their free websites, which in regards to a competition is a little bit of a concern in that many competitors use more elaborate, paid-for sites that look far sexier. But our kids did what they could with what they could and the sites, for the most part, look good. And considering that they probably taught themselves how to create the site, the students should be commended.

We evaluated everyone’s site based on the visuals and the content. In general, there were notes that we gave that were universal. For one thing, the use of visuals to highlight specific points was an important concept the students needed to understand. Without multi-media, for instance, a website might just as well be an essay. It’s the visuals, the links, and the multimedia aspect of them that make them websites. Timelines, for instance, that combine both primary sources and links, are a great opportunity for visual impact.

In regards to content, there seemed to be an overarching lack of commentary. For middle schoolers, writing personal response can be hard. But what we’re trying to emphasize is that just delivering the facts is not an analysis. And if we’re looking to teach high-level thinking, there must be present that next step of information delivery – the evaluation.

Many of the students delivered the facts, but added no judgment. They were missing the higher levels of Bloom’s. They neglected the commentary.

When teaching history, it is vital that a teacher not just teach the facts, but give guidance in pulling back the lens and evaluating the bigger pictures. How did this figure fit into history and amongst their contemporaries? What is the impact that they made on those who followed them? What is your opinion of their contributions given your expertise in their accomplishments?

Commentary comes in many different ways, but including it is the difference between information regurgitation and true, deep comprehension.

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Post tags: blog, Character Education, commentary, competition, CUE, digital natives, history day, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Language Arts, online, teaching, Title I, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Budget Cut Victim – Textbook Adoption

heather — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:08:35 +0000

We just got word that we will not have our scheduled textbook adoption for ELA this year as planned. I have to admit, it is disappointing. I mean, yes it meant I was going to be out of the classroom for a number of days over the course of second semester. But when I think about how damaged our current textbooks are, and the new content we’re missing out on, it’s just no wonder the achievement gap widens.(...)
Read the rest of Budget Cut Victim – Textbook Adoption (244 words)

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Post tags: audit, blog, budget, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, firing, internet literacy, learning, middle school, textbooks, Title I

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Grammar Snafu and Dances with the Stars

heather — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:18:57 +0000

OK, I admit it. I’m a Dances with the Stars Fan. Although I do believe that the series has jumped the shark with the group hip-hop number two weeks ago (did we really need to see Cloris Leachman in short-shorts?), I still need to see this one season out to its end, if only for my own compulsiveness.

Anyway, had I not stuck with it, I would never had heard a wincing grammatical error by the Pashma Lakshmi of the dance floor, Carrie Ann Inaba.

The scenario: Susan Lucci, in yet another stunningly stiff and impassionate contribution to the ballroom, is told by the judges that her paso doble is wonderful. Everyone’s looking to help Susan “break out of her shell” so they all congratulate her for what, I don’t know, and at the end of it, Carrie Ann demands that Lucci turn around to the camera, own her success, and announce to the millions sitting at home, “I did GOOD!”

In my world, there’s a pause and Tom Bergeron (cool guy, funny, smart, I used to watch him on Fox’s Breakfast Show co-starring with Bob the puppet) whispers, “Well…I did well.” Maybe, it’s even cued by the producers in his earpiece. But no...

…in Susan Lucci’s grandiose vapidity, she turns to the camera, glazed smile of pride on her face, and declares to the world, “I did GOOD!”

Carrie Ann Inaba gave Susan Lucci an 8, but I give Carrie Ann a 0. And I don’t think Susan Lucci did very well, either.

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Post tags: Curriculum, ELA, internet literacy, Language Arts, learning, technology, writing

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When it works, it’s amazing!

heather — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:07:04 +0000

I’m referring, of course, to my new Interactive Whiteboard. I think I’m going to name my second child Promethean. (...)
Read the rest of When it works, it’s amazing! (158 words)

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Post tags: 2008, blog, Ed Tech, education, ELA, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, new teachers, powerpoint, professional development, technology, Title I

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Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin…

heather — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:12:38 +0000

So, in a move reminiscent of a 12-year old girl caught up in the riot mentality of rumors, I believed the whisper I heard about not getting my Whiteboard for 2 months. But I tell you now: it was false, dear readers! Yes, not only have I heard that the boards have shipped, but the company even came after hours this week and brought me a borrowed board to use in the meantime. Props for service and courtesy.

So I write to you today as a contrite tweenteacher. Lesson learned. Don’t listen to the gossip in the teacher’s lounge.

So, in an attempt to bring this post around to some actual advice for all you educators out there, I want to reiterate that point: do not waste one minute of your time this year in a toxic teacher environment. This is different than a Toxic Teaching Environment which can be defined as anything that gets in the way of you doing your job: under-funding, lack of school wide discipline, fractured classrooms, etc…

No, I’m talking about a specific breed of pollution that is meant to choke the enthusiasm out of you: the Toxic Teacher Environment. (...)
Read the rest of Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin… (419 words)

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Post tags: 2008, blog, carnival of education, Character Education, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, Ed Tech, ELA, employment, equity, game shows, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, middle school, new teachers, professional development, teaching, tenure, Title I, UCI, websites

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Hurry up & Wait – My New Interactive Whiteboard: Part II

heather — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:30:20 +0000

So, I had my online training. I met the Whiteboard sales guy in my classroom to discuss where the board is to be mounted. I talked with my principal to develop an interactive whiteboard presentation during our first staff development in an attempt to drum up excitement amongst the somewhat less-than-tech-enthused staff. I spent time over my summer developing my own curriculum for the first quarter: pulling out my books, pacing my units, and choosing those individual static lessons that I will expand into Interactive board lessons.

It wasn’t long, however, that I began to suspect I had wasted my time. The odor of bullshit was in the air…

(...)
Read the rest of Hurry up & Wait – My New Interactive Whiteboard: Part II (737 words)

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Joanne Jacobs comment:”Stop facilitating and start teaching”

heather — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:16:35 +0000

I commented on Joanne Jacobs article, “Stop Facilitating and Start Teaching,” based on Fred Strine’s article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Strine indicates that more student-centered teaching is somehow less taught and, consequently, less learned. Jacobs paraphrases that the “’sage on the stage’ is more effective than the ‘guide on the side,’” that students of today lack the discipline that they had in his day, as if handing over the ownership to the class is handing over the reins entirely. (...)
Read the rest of Joanne Jacobs comment:”Stop facilitating and start teaching” (573 words)

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Collaboration…Blocked by a Firewall Near You

heather — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:02:15 +0000

You know, sometimes I wonder if I’m not a huge pain in the ass to present for, especially if I love what’s going on. I’m one of those audience members who has to verbally digest and implement what I am learning as it’s happening. I have to barble and pop as my Eureka moments are going on, and while it’s amazingly exciting for me, it must be hugely annoying to my presenter. I was in rare form this morning at the UCI Writers Project, for Doug Fisher, co-author of such works as Language Learners in the English Classroom, was in the house.(...)
Read the rest of Collaboration…Blocked by a Firewall Near You (673 words)

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Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, equity, integration, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, matthew needleman, middle school, professional development, research, technology, test, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, UCI, writing

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Surely Shakespeare has a sniglet for it?

heather — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:02:57 +0000

Remember Rich Hall in HBOs 1980s comedy, Not Necessary the News? He created sniglets, words that should have been in the dictionary, but weren’t. For example:

Foodgitives: The food on one side of a TV dinner tray that escapes to the other side. (Hall 1985a: 31)
Furnidents: The indentations left in carpet after moving heavy furniture (Hall 1983)
Sniffleridge: The groove running between the nose and the mouth (Hall 1984: 92).

Well, today I’m asking for help in creating our own.(...)
Read the rest of Surely Shakespeare has a sniglet for it? (322 words)

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Post tags: computers, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, integration, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Title I, TLN, websites

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It’s the End of The Internet as we Know It (and I feel…)

heather — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:36:20 +0000

Check out this kinda frightening prediction from early Time Magazine sources. It seems that there is an attempt to create blocks of media packages starting as early as 2012 or earlier. That is, very much like TV cable packaging, the Internet would only be sold in blocks to purchase access much as you would your HBO Basic or Plus packages for cable.

Just imagine the even wider achievement gap that would occur if schools had to pay for their Internet packages.

If it’s true, we need to get more media attention on this attempt to stomp out the global communication that we have all come to know, love, and support.

I can’t say I know a lot about this subject, but it’s definitely worth looking into. Of course, there’s no way Google’s gonna let this happen, of course. After all, they’re a juggernaut in the business of universal information access.

Have you heard any updates on this topic that our Ed Tech community should be aware of? What steps should we take to ensure that it doesn’t happen?

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Post tags: 2008, assessments, audit, blog, CUE, data, digital immigrants, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, free, fundraising, integration, internet literacy, iPods, k-12, k12, learning, middle school, online, PI, podcasting, teaching, Title I