Websites

Websites assignment

@http://www.teacherhaines.com/

This clip from a 140 character conference shows how teacher George Haines incorporated twitter into the classroom successfully integrating 21st century technology. I absolutely loved how he was able to use twitter and have the students blog their observations about the animal characters from the novel //Animal Farm// naming the project "Twanimal Farm." Not only did the students blog about what they observed, they had to recreate their interpretation from the "animal's perspective" in their blogs. Students also were able to learn about the Russian Revolution at the same time having to research who the characters were and represented during the time period. Since the animal characters represent people during the rivalry of the Russian Revolution, this approach allowed the students to become more involved with an understanding of the book and its correlation with history. It is not just simply reading and writing a report!



@http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/DigitalStorytelling/How%20to%20Create%20a%20digital%20story.htm

I think that having the students create a personal narrative with digital storytelling would be another great way to incorporate technology into my classroom through movie maker. Through personal images (drawings or digital pictures), video clips, and music the students could visually illustrate a personal narrative and bring it to life. To be able to take a great memorable moment of their lives and place it into a story I think would be both fun and beneficial to the student. First, they would have to organize their story by writing something out and then organize and display their ideas chronologically, which would definitely take some focus on their part. Since this is all new to me, the best way for me to teach this would be to do one myself first. As a teacher, you can't expect your students to do something that you yourself are unsure of!

@http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/bstpract/bstpract/152/152.pdf

After completing a novel, I always like to come up with some project idea that ties everything together for the students. In this particular lesson, students would collaborate in groups of 4 or 5 and create a newspaper that would include information about people, places, issues and specific events that make up the work. They would have to use publication software to create the paper. For example, with //To Kill a Mockingbird//, students could write a letter to the editor about the unfair trial trial of Tom Robinson,research and write about the Great Depression, social inequality, and many other issues the novel addresses. They could look at current newspapers and write an obituary for Bob Ewell. This lesson is a great way for students to read current newspapers, create their own newspaper and also allow students to become more involved with an understanding of the book and the time period.