Edmiston

I thought what Edmiston did with drama was very interesting. I liked how they did a lot of role play and research to get students involved and creative. I think that this could be helpful in regards to imagination and literature. On the other hand, I'm not sure this would work any higher than 6th grade? I believe that students much older would not get into enough for the activity to be effective. I can't see high school students doing research outside the class or coming in with crafts going with the activity without being asked. Any ideas on how to light the same fire under older students with this project of drama?

Edmondson

Edmondson says in his article that "Teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students" who knew that this language was actually technology. I absolutely loved the whole idea in this article, it made me excited for my classroom in the future. I love the idea of setting the wiki up like a collaborative Facebook to use in a literary circle. I like that students still get to take turns with the jobs and that there is something required every night and in class; it gives a lot of opportunity for participation and learning.

I had one idea to add to this activity. I think I would give an extra credit option as well. If the students would like, as extra credit, I would ask them to keep a separate wiki page as a personal journal. This would be somewhere to reflect on the project and what they did and did not like. With this the student can learn more about themselves and I can learn things that can help me better the assignment.

Dail & Giles

I was interested in this article for two reasons. One, I LOVE The Hunger Games book and two, I really think that voice thread is a fun tool. Although I have not read the other book I really liked this project. I think asking the students to sum up both books using one creative and individual image is an excellent way to introduce new technological issues. The article laid it out perfectly. We live in a society that is increasingly technology based and students need to be able to analyze and work with that technology. This assignment gives them that basis in a new way. I love it and would definitely use it!

Hybrid courses

One thing that really stuck out to me in the readings from this week was the idea of hybrid courses in high school. I was surprised when I read that these hybrid courses were offered in high school because I thought that they were referring to college. I really do not know how to feel about this idea. Does it have significant benefits over coming to school everyday? I really don't see how it could. And would the students actually show up on the days they're suppose to? Maybe still living at home would help attendance unlike in college. And would students still feel as obligated to do their schoolwork when they're spending half the time in the actual classroom as before? This idea is very intriguing to me and even though I'm not sure it would have benefits or really work I think that it would be interesting to look into more.

Rice

I found the article by Mary Rice to be very interesting. I had never thought to use more graphic novels in the classroom because I was always one of those people who just thought of them as easy and not appropriate for the classroom. Personally, I had never had experience with a graphic novel in a classroom setting until my third year of college in a 400 level English class. I thought the graphic novel was very entertaining but it was strange to have pictures in my book again.

I would not have thought of the difficulties before this article but they all make sense. Most of these comic like stories do seenu academically inappropriate. I do think that it may be worth it in a broken down sense. I believe these works would be helpful for ELL and slower readers because of the accompaniment of pictures but I believe it may be too much hassle to teach then to a whole class.

Is the time and money spent outside the classroom worth a lesson that the student could possibly miss?

Barcelona!

I spent my spring break in Barcelona with the Special Education department and I wanted to share an interesting fact with you guys! In Barcelona, undergrads studying education take an exam much like our praxis. The difference is their exam score makes or breaks them! You are hired solely on that test score after you graduate. You do not send a resume or get an interview; you just need a good test score! After you have been hired by a school you then have a probational period where if you make a mess up the school can fire you on the spot! In the case that you are fired you are only permitted to attempt to teach at one other school! If you have two mess ups in probational periods when you are starting out you can no longer teach! Interesting, huh?

Grr..

I just wanted to blog about one of my educational pet peeves, email. I emailed one of professors a week ago asking about a very important assignment in class and I never heard back from him. He has sent out two group emails to the whole class though! I sent him a second email just reminding him that I'm waiting on his response, but once again still haven't heard back. My advisor has done the same thing. I will email him about scheduling questions and I will never hear back from him!

I understand that professors have lives just like the students do but I feel like there should be a time frame that you have to answer students in. I believe it is unfair to leave them hanging for a week and after two emails. I have plans to one day teach at the university level and I know that I personally feel like I have to have a certain system set up to make sure I get every email answered in a timely fashion! Any one else have problems with this?