I believe that in the coming years that I will be teaching the aspect of the Internet which will have the most significant impact on the teaching profession will continue to be online reference sources. The Internet is a great and easy source to find information that a student would normally have to spend hours looking up in multiple books. These items include definitions, synonyms and antonyms, quotes, items on a map, statistics, etc.
I can’t remember the last time, at least in high school, I had to actually go to the library and select a real book to look information up on. Google has a feature called GoogleBooks which allows the user to look up actual books, and in some cases, can read the whole book. There is a search engine on that site where you type in your search item (such as a persons’ name) and it will search through all the books and come back with page numbers in those books where the name is mentioned. If these happen to be books they don’t have the whole of online then the students know at least what they are looking for when they go to the library, ultimately cutting back on student work time.
I was rather amazed that on page 82 of the book that Wikipedia was mentioned. It is an encyclopedia, but students need to know that they should use that one very carefully. People surfing the net can very easily, or at least it used to be very easy, edit the different pages. I find that using Encarta or Britannica Online a better source for information, and that is what I will promote in my classroom.
I am sure that the resources available online will continue to grow and expand in the later years and will make it even easier for students to gain pertinent information easily for their assignments.
Target grade: 10th through 12th grade history
Key concept: Students will be able to identify specific ideas, concepts, events, and people that lead up to and caused the abolition of the slave trade in England. Also, students will know information about the very important figure in that movement, William Wilberforce.
Zigmond Podcast Project Fall 08:
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Digital storytelling seems to be, at least from my experience, something rare in today’s teaching environment. I don’t see why seeing that it is not only an easy process to create one, but would enthrall the students and encourage them to learn. And this method is not limited to one age group or subject.
I plan to teach history/geography in high school, and it is rather hard to get the students involved in the learning process at that age. One example of how I would incorporate digital storytelling into my classroom would be through teaching my students the different capitals and countries in Europe. When I was in my seventh grade geography class my teacher had these songs that made a rhyme out of the different places and put it to a catchy beat. I would put those songs into a podcast and put maps and pictures of the places to go along with the music to help them memorize the places.
When I do do different projects based on history I would include real pictures, not just clipart, music, and different video clips. There are many movies out these days that address historic time periods such as, Amazing Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl, Luther, etc; I would be able to take clips from these movies and place them in my digital story to emphasize certain important information. There is also the topic of music, which I could take from the same time period or put into the presentation to give it a more dramatic undertone to keep the students engaged.
My project is for high school history (10th-12th grade) and I want my students to learn how to identify specific ideas of the Renaissance, and know how to identify the art and philosphies of the time. The handout has them identify where certain works of art were made according to the details within the paintings, along with filling in the blanks of sentences that have to do with the Renaissance. Students will put their experiences with visits to different countries into an Excel spreadsheet. The Inspiration Content Map shows them the main points and ideas of the Renaissance that will go along with the lecture I would give in class.
ZigmondProductivityToolsProject
How can productivity software be used for teaching and learning?
Productivity software is a vital tool for teachers to help their students learn. The most common productivity software used by teachers in the classroom is word processing software. It is easy to use, and can be updated through internet downloads quickly. It also comes with spelling checker, which gives students immediate feedback on their typing progress. The student can also use the thesaurus tool to figure out different words that have the same meaning as those they usually use. This feature gives the students the ability to vary their writing, along with adding those new words to their everyday vocabulary.
The use of word processor also helps the teacher in reading and grading papers. No longer do teachers have to squint trying to figure out what the students handwriting says. Type is far easier to read, and makes for neater rough drafts. It also makes life easier on the student because they don’t have to rewrite the whole paper just to make corrections. All they have to do is go back into their saved paper to revise their mistakes!
The program also allows teachers to make copy of their own notes to handout to students who missed class due to illness, or even handout notes to the whole class so that the students pay more attention to the lecture than trying to get all the notes written. It also allows teachers to type up their tests, and make easy to follow lesson plans. I feel that with this program students can not only learn, but helps teachers make learning easier for the students.
Grade Level: High school (Junior/Senior) History
Objectives: The students will master the knowledge of the causes that led up to the revolution, and how those causes came about. They will be able to identify the cause and effect relationship in the French Revolution.Zigmond PowerPoint
High school students are more than ready to get out of school and start their life, and therefore they have little interest in school work. I feel that if they feel they are doing something that will benefit their lives rather than just a grade they will be more interested in doing the project. The students of today and the future need to have a real background in technology and creative project producing, which can be taught in the classroom setting.
I feel the SMARTboard would benefit any subject area, but above all would benefit the social sciences. History can seem boring and tedious to a lot of students, but if they were allowed to interact hands-on with the board I believe that they will be able to gain not only a greater liking for it, but a better understanding for the subject all together. Pictures and movie clips can be added and played easily without the teacher having to sit behind the desk the whole time. Notes cannot only be read easier, but it also provides a way of saving the lesson so that the teacher can go back to it the next day if there were questions. There would also be no more need to ask the class where they left off the day before because it all would be saved, and therefore no information would be skipped.
The SMARTboard allows the students to go up and show off their understanding of the subject. They’ll be able to engage in the learning instead of sitting behind their desks taking notes. This way they will have less of an opportunity to fall asleep, or get distracted, because they will want to see what the other students are doing or are waiting their own turn to write. Student presentations will become easier, and the students can add more detail to their projects that they might not have thought of doing before. Overall, the SMARTboard will be able to bring creativity and life back into even the ‘boring’ (as some students see it) subjects, such as history.