Thursday, December 16, 2010

Final Project

Here is the link to our weebly that has the format/unit for our final project!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Podcast!!

Using my savvy skills from 5472, I created a podcast (instead of submitting a written form) for a book review for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This was created for a Master's class (CI 5442), Young Adult Literature.  I thought this was a much more interactive way to give my book review and definitely plan on using this in the classroom one day soon!  I think podcasts are a terrific addition to put on my class website/blog and think it is a great way to market books to my students and hopefully get them excited about reading!  Further, I think it would be a much more interactive and personal way to describe assignments( that students may have been absent for) on my class website.  Instead of reading the instructions for a worksheet or assignment, students could listen to my voice explain it to them!

** Reader note: I am having trouble figuring out how to upload the file onto my blog (some other classmates had the same problem), but hopefully following this link to media mill works! I cannot seem to find a way to upload an audio file (such as an MP3 to blogger), so if someone knows how to please let me know! Thanks and enjoy!

Listen to my podcast for a book review of Harry Potter!

The end of the semester already???

I cannot believe it is the end of the semester already... it is a cliche saying, but time flew by!  While the past semester was challenging and stressful, I am more motivated than ever to pursue a career in education.  This semester I have learned invaluable methods, tools, and resources that I can incorporate in my future classrooms.  I feel that these skills are what will seperate me (and my fellow M.Ed. classmates) apart from other novice teachers entering the work field.  I am also excited to announce that I got my student teaching placement at N.E. middle school in Minneapolis... I could not be more thrilled!!!

I am not sure where the next year will lead me, but I am so excited to find out! I have decided that New York would be faaaar to expensive to live in alone (I'm poor now, I don't want to still be poor after I finish grad school!), so instead I am thinking of moving to Chicago!  I feel it is the perfect mixture between urban and midwest living and would still allow me to pursue my dream of working in an inner-city school district and working to close the achievement gap. 

While I am sad that the semester is coming to a close... I am so excited for a break!!! I hope everyone enjoys their winter breaks and comes back ready for student teaching!

Using Storybird in the Classroom!

We did this for another class, but I really enjoyed using Storybird and am looking forward to using it the future in the classroom.  I liked this program so much, I thought I would share my silly story with you!

Since the program provides images for the creator (and does not let them upload their own), I thought it would be fun to give pairs of students the assignment to create a Storybird with the same images and have them work independentally.  This would be a good creative writing activity, as well as show the students that even when given the same material (such as writing an analysis paper for a novel), there are many ways you can take your writing and form your own arguments based on what you, specifically, bring to a text.

Click here to view my Storybird!

Film Adaptations

Here is a lesson plan that I had originally thought of earlier in the semester, but added onto to incorporate the use of VideoANT as well.  I am really interested in using film adaptations of literature as an incorporated tool in my classroom.  This activity uses "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass", but you could use any film adaptations paired with literature. 

I took special care when designing this lesson as to not give the students the idea that one version is better than the other, but instead focused the activity on making students realize the different elements and techniques in each version and how those elements and techniques added to the film or literature to make them special in their own ways - whether these techniques were successful or not.  I also used it as a tool to show students that they can read film and images in media as  just like they can read literature.

Lesson Plan:

Subject Area: English/Language Arts
Grade Level: 10th grade
Unit Title: Through the Looking Glass
Lesson Title: Two Sides of the Mirror

Time: Two class periods totally 80 minutes (or one block class of 80 minutes)

Essential Question: Similar to the literary elements of a story, what are the literary elements of film?

Objectives:
•    Students will be able to identify important themes and significant details in the novel Through The Looking Glass.
•    Students will be able to identify important themes and significant details in the movie Alice in Wonderland (1951 Disney version).
•    Student will be able to identify similarities and differences between the written and film versions and analyze those components in an analytical manner and understand their significance and importance in the both versions.
•    Students will learn how to become more consciously literate in film and media as well as reading, learning that there are elements of film similar to how there are elements of literature.
•    Students will become more comfortable incorporating technology in their assignments (VideoAnt).


Materials/Resources Needed:
•    Book: Through the Looking Glass
•    Disney film: Alice in Wonderland (1951) or access to YouTube for this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBTWE26AeEw
•    Notebook and pencil
•    Scheduled time in a computer lab and access to VideoAnt

Previous Knowledge:  By this point in the lesson, students will already have finished the book Through the Looking Glass and have discussed and analyzed the book critically as a class.  They will be familiar with certain elements of fiction such as imagery, word choice, sentence structure, detail, dialogue, character development, tone, and voice etc.  The students will also have had a tutorial the previous day on how to use VideoAnt (a video annotation program that allows students to annotate comments while simultaneously watching a film clip).  They will feel comfortable to use it on their own.

Procedure: 
1.    Intro (10 minutes):
At this point, the students would be redirected to turn to the scene in which Alice enters the realm into Wonderland.  Students will be divided into small groups and asked to recall the important elements of literature used in this scene.  After, the class will come back and discuss what they found/came up with.
2.    Watch Film clip (15 minutes):
If the classroom does not allow enough time to see the entire movie, watching just the clip where Alice enters through the door into Wonderland should be just fine (here is a link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBTWE26AeEw). In this lesson plan, we are watching just this clip. Similar to the task after completing the novel, after watching the clip (10 minute clip) we would, as a class, generate and critique specific things that we noticed in the clip, such as detail, music, character voice and pitch, camera angles, tone, dialogue, and drawing technique (since it is a cartoon).
3.    Computer lab and VideoAnt (50 minutes): 
The class will move quickly to the computer lab and each student will sign-on to a computer. They have already had a tutorial and learned how to use VideoAnt, so no instruction is needed.  This time will be devoted entirely to the students creating their own VideoAnt in order to discuss the literary elements of film in the clip.  The clip is ten minutes long, so the students will have a whole fifty minutes to work on this.  They will be instructed they need at least ten annotations throughout the ten-minute clip.  They should be reminded to use their notes to generate annotations.  They should also be reminded to stay on task, because they only have this class time to work on the VideoAnt portion of this project (no more computer time in class after this).
4.    Closure (5 minutes):
As a wrap-up, they students will sign off their computers.  This is a time they can pose any questions or comments to the class as a whole.  For homework, they have to go home, look at their notes, and start comparing the similarities and differences between the two scenes (from the book and movie) and come prepared to talk about them in class tomorrow.  They will also be introduced to the next assignment of the lesson which will begin tomorrow, which is to create a similar annotation storyboard for the book (as they did for VideoAnt), but this time on paper.

Rock My World: Incorporating Popular Music in the Classroom



There are many genres of music I like and artists and bands that I enjoy listening to and support; however, whenever this question is posed to me, my first and instinctual response is: Dave Matthews Band.  I am a HUGE fan of Dave Matthews Band.  I love the organic feel of their music and enjoy the underlying political messages – probably because I agree with them.  I have been a fan of Dave since middle school, even before I was old enough to really appreciate the music for all of its aspects; yet, it is something I have grown into and still love!  My fondest memories are of going to outdoor Dave shows at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin - eating and drinking with my friends before the show as the hot summer sun sets behind us, and then going in to see an amazing show by DMB under the stars. 
   
    I chose to share the video “Don’t Drink the Water” by Dave Matthews Band and incorporate it into a lesson because I actually began thinking about this a couple of weeks ago while tutoring in AVID at Plymouth Middle School right before Thanksgiving break.  The students were talking about Thanksgiving, pilgrims, Native-Americans, and of course, Christopher Columbus.   Even though I am sure they are being taught (at least hopefully they are!) the truth of how Native-Americans were treating when colonists came to North America.  The song is an homage to how the colonists poorly treated the Native Americans and I think could fit perfectly when paired with a multi-cultural text with a Native-American protagonist (such as True Diary of a Part-Time Indian).  I think it is fantastic when English classes are paired with Social Studies classes, so this could create a fun and new approach to feeling the pain of the Native Americans through lyrics and music.  If you listen to Dave Matthews sing, his voice is full of emotion and anger as well as addressed in the lyrics.


Digital News Journalism: Through the Eyes of Another

After hearing Jim Hatten and Chris Baker guest speak in class on November 18th, I was reminded of my own love of being in Journalism and on the newspaper in class.  It made me begin thinking of how much I would love to one day teach Journalism classes, and possibly, digital news (which they did not have when I was in high school).  After a little insipiration and really enjoying their talks, here is a lesson plan I wrote for a 10th - 12th grade Journalism classroom.  It incorporates the use of VoiceThread as a different way to "interview" a person and to learn to use the sources's information (and not your own) when writing a newspaper story.



Lesson Plan:

Subject Area: Journalism Class

Grade Level: 10th – 12th grade

Unit Title: Through the Eyes of Another

Time: Two Class periods totally 100 minutes (each class 50 minutes)

Essential Question: What elements of writing must be included (and therefore also excluded) in order to write a news story without bias?

Objectives:
•    Students will be able to describe pictures/images in a clear and concise way; describing emotions as well as actions portrayed.
•    Students will be able to use VoiceThread effectively and efficiently.
•    Students will be able to write a new story without personal bias or opinion.
•    Students will be able to use information from a source as the base for their news article.

Materials/Resources Needed:
•    Notebook and pencil
•    Scheduled time in computer lab and access to VoiceThread

Previous Knowledge:  By this point, students will already have gone over the important elements and aspects that go in to writing a news article. The class will have already gone over how to write an article that is appropriate for a newspaper: such as length, word choice, and how to not include a biased opinion or personal opinions.  Students will also have received a tutorial on how to use VoiceThread and should know how to upload pictures to the computer and the VoiceThread program.  As homework prior to these two days, students will have been instructed to find five pictures that are important to them.  They can represent who they are or important memories/events in their lives.  They will be instructed to either email these photos to themselves (so they can open them during work time in the computer lab) or download them on a zip drive that they will bring to class.  As for differentiation, if a student does not have the resources to do either of these things, they can bring their photos to class prior to workday and the teacher can scan them in and upload them for the student.






Day 1

Procedure:
1.    Intro (10 minutes):
The students will meet in the classroom and, as a class, generate a list of things that are essential to incorporate (or exclude) when writing a story using a source.  The teacher will write all of the ideas on the board and the students will record them as notes in their notebook.  The teacher will direct the discussion towards on tips on how to not include personal bias or opinion when writing a news article/story.
2.    Computer lab and VoiceThread (35 minutes)
Students will move to the computer lab and have remainder of the class hour to work in there.  The students will upload their photos (however they chose to do this) to the VoiceThread program and record about three to five minutes of a description of what is happening in the photo, who is in it, and the emotions happening when the photo was taken.
3.    Closure: (5 minutes)
The teacher will tell the students to wrap up their recordings.  Then, the teacher will pair the students up into groups of two students each.  The teacher will inform the students that tomorrow, each pair will listen to their partners VoiceThread and then write a news story about their partner. 

Day 2:

1.    Intro (10 minutes):
The teacher will immediately move the students to the computer lab.  Here, the teacher will provide each student with the link to their partner's VoiceThread (it is not essential that partners sit next to each other).  The teacher quickly go over the brainstorming elements the students generated and took notes on the day before so that the ideas are fresh in their minds.  The teacher will remind the students that they should write down direct quotes they hear that they would like to include in their article.
2.    Listen to VoiceThread (20 minutes):
The students will listen to their partners VoiceThreads and take notes while they listen, paying particular attention to write down notes that include their sources ideas, feelings, opinions, and emotions and not theirs.
3.    Article Writing (15 minute):
The students, using their notes, will begin to write a news article about their partner.  They can write about the events in the images or write a story about who their source/partner is.  They can write the story however they choose, but their personal opinion and bias cannot show through or be included.  They must use only the information they received from their partner.
4.    Closing (5 minutes):
The teacher will stop the students from writing about five minutes towards the end of class.  Here, the teacher will remind the students of important things they should include in their article and words/ideas they should leave out that could lead to personal bias/opinion.  The teacher will allow for one or two students to share a sentence or two from their articles as an example for the rest of the class.  The teacher will assign the students homework to finish their rough draft tonight so that they can edit it and complete it in class tomorrow.

Studying and Creating Documentaries: What is truth and it is possible to document it?

As a self-attempted “health nut” (who, I’ll admit, secretly binge eats Twinkies from time to time), I really enjoy food documentaries.  In general, I am a big fan of documentaries; however, as a communications major in undergrad, who took a whole class aimed at the topic of reality television (including documentaries), I understand, as well as appreciate, the fact that no documentary is telling the whole and entire truth.  Bias is always something that creeps its way into reality television.  Further, we must discuss the topic and idea of “what is reality”?  Is it possible to document reality when the presence of cameras are in the way and people know they are being filmed?  Even if there were hidden cameras, I strongly believe that filmmakers are still manipulating situations in a somewhat unrealistic way.  I originally started this assignment with the idea of discussing Super Size Me, which I just re-watched via the wonder that is Netflix.  However, I saw Waiting for Superman this weekend at the Uptown theater with a friend (who is not in the education field) and I am changing my mind.

Waiting for Superman
is a very directly vocal film arguing the dire state of the public school system, specifically students who are underserved due to race and socio-economic status.  I am struggling to decide on who the intended audience really is.  I feel that much of the message is directed towards the white, middle to upper class audience and impede a sense of guilt in them at the terrible state of the public school system in which we subject children (specifically poor children of diversity) to every day.  The film gets this point across by employing heart-breaking scenes in which African-American and Hispanic students beg, “I just want to go to school”.  Bias, in this film, comes in the form of showing the hero status that lies within charter schools.  Every mention of a charter school shows the positive aspects of them and how they are saving our poor, disadvantaged children in poor, disadvantaged neighborhoods.  As a viewer, as well as a future educator, I admit that I am not biased in my feelings, opinions, and emotions that I brought to watch the movie.  I am personally adamant and passionate about teaching in an urban, inner-city setting where the achievement gap is practically palpable.  I admit that I am not experienced enough in the realm or professional career of education to have a solid stance on whether charter schools or better (or in that sense, worse) than public schools.  Yet, I was touched, none-the-less, by the inability for many children in America to receive excellent education and motivated to be a person, in the very near future, instigating change.

    For a teaching activity, I think it would be very interesting to show students some documentaries (such as Super Size Me or Waiting for Superman) and have them notice the techniques and strategies used in documentaries that are advertising the “truth”, but are obviously very strongly arguing one side of a debate.  From there, I would have them choose a topic that is important in their lives.  This could be as simple as “What is better: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or tuna?”.  The goal would just be to come up with a debate that they can choose to “find the truth”.  I feel, for students, it may be easier to have them pick a debate which is somewhat black and white, and where there can be clear sides to portray in a documentary.  From there, if the school I am in has the equipment, I would have them make a five-minute documentary.  The requirements could be one minute of self-interview or voice-overs, two minutes of interviewing other people, and then two minutes documenting “reality” and the life in which their debate takes place (so, in the peanut butter and jelly scenario, they could have two minutes of footage in the cafeteria).  If the school does not have the equipment to film this, students could draw a storyboard of how they would develop and create their documentary. The activity could be graded on employing the techniques viewed in the other documentaries, such as bias and ways to convince the audience of which side of the debate is wrong and right. 

Genre Analysis



Here's a prezi that I made of a criticism of The Cosby Show as an authentic representation of African-American families in media, specifically sitcoms.  It is really interesting to see the stereotypes that we, as a society, are taught by the media.  Especially interesting, in the case of sitcoms such as The Cosby Show, the stereoytpe of what African-American families were "supposed" to look like was attempted to be reconstructed. However, this new image of African-American families in many ways reinforced further racial stereotypes and illusions.

Dear Rick Beach,

Hello all! (aka, Richard Beach... because I think my readers may have dwindled as our work load has greatly increased towards the end of the semester).

I have been TERRIBLE at keeping up on my blog! I would like to start again with the personal blog posts, though.  This is a very fun way to express my feelings and stresses and have people read them.. or not... either way, I think it's fun.

So, to Rick: While I haven't been posting them on the blog I PROMISE I've been keeping up with the work in class and doing the assignments... I feel like some of my students with excuses, but I promise, it was more of a procrastination and avoidance issue.  I did the assignment on the Cosby show and presented it in class, but for some reason didn't take the four seconds to post it on my blog.  From there, I formed a bad habit. I'm sorry!  Anyway, all of these assignments were really fun to do, as well as attending your class... I'm so glad I took it with you before you retired! I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but I have used many of the tools and skills learned in your class in other projects this semester for other classes, including but not limited to: podcasts, websites (and trying new sources besides just google which I was comfortable with), blogging, VoiceThread, and VideoANT.  Without this class I would have been too afraid to try to learn new types of technology (I'm not the most savvy when it comes to computers and technology), but because of you I have a new found respect for using technology in the classroom and even made my Intersession unit based around media.  So, as you retire, here is one more student saying THANK YOU!! You really made a difference in my education, and the education of my future students :)

So, without further ado, here is my work I've done towards the end of the semester, couldn't have done it without you!