After reading Chapters 3,4, and 5 of November and after seeing Dr. Fritz's Jing demonstration feel that I have a much greater understanding of how to evaluate and search for websites. But now my duty as an educator is to relay that information to my young growing internet users. I have to figure out a way to do that effectively for many reasons. First and foremost I think is to protect the students from any dangerous or malicious content out there. And secondly because the internet is how they are going to receive much of their knowledge in their near future. They must learn how to do it effectively.
Kathy Schrock's PDF files for Evaluation of websites I thought was a great idea. I am going to use her Elementary level one as a guide but I have decided to create my own. I liked her's a lot but like I said I am going to make my own evaluation sheet that my students can use as an activity in the computer lab to evaluate websites.
Another idea I had as I mentioned in the wiki earlier was to have a Technology Word Wall over the section in my classroom where the computers are. On this word wall would be words such as URL, keyboard, mouse, firefox, etc. Since a lot of my students are ELL (English Language Learners) I want to have visual images next to each word. Once I've referred to this word wall enough times I would move to anchor charts. Anchor charts are signs that I make with the students and hang up in the classroom for the students to refer to. They can be educational or even sometimes behavioral like washing your hands, etc. My first Technology anchor chart that I had in mind was for REAL. It would be a kid friendly chart going over the rules of REAL. Other anchor charts for the computer that I had in mind was one for turning the computer on and off for the first week of school, and then as their skills improved I thought maybe one for typing effectively (using spaces, periods, shift key, etc.) This week has really opened my mind to the things that I can teach my students on the computer. I can't wait to get the ball rolling with these ideas next September.
Below is a video I made for making my first custom Search Engine. I hope to have many more of these for next year. I want my students to be able to search freely and safely as they research information. It was very simple to create and the fact that I can just keep adding to them year after year is even better.
Click here to view my Jing Video on how I created my Google Custom Search Engine for my students.
Thanks for the video on creating a Google Custom Search engine! YOu'll have to let us know how it works with your students. You can add the Google Custom Search to the "side bar" of your blog (as I did with my blog.). Go to the control panel of your custom search. Then, on the left hand side, click on "Get Code". Highlight and copy the entire code. Got to your blog and click on design (upper right corner). Now, you want to "add a gadget" - mine are on the right hand column of my blog. Scroll down to "HTML/JavaScript" and click on that. PAste your code into that box and click SAVE. You should be able to view your blog and see that custom search on the blog. This is a nice way to "house" the search for your students. You can also embed it into a wiki!
ReplyDeleteDr. Fritz
Phil, I am impressed that you made a Jing video already! I have to admit, I am intimidated by the thought of this, but I hope to try it soon. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch your video! When I click on the link, it takes me to the screencast site, but there is nothing there except for an advertisement for Jing and a black screen. I kept looking for something to click on, but maybe I am missing something. Is it possible that my laptop needs a download or something to make it work? I'd love to get this ironed out so that when I go to make my video, it goes smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Jing video. I was able to watch it, no problem. A really feel like a Google Custom Search is the way to go with our younger students. It gives them choices and they have the freedom to work on the computer independently, and as a teacher, I know they are getting the information they need. If the children were working independently or with a partner, a JIng video would be a good lesson introduction or a quick refresher of directions.
ReplyDeleteHI Karen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for trying to view my video. I'm not sure why your's isn't working. The only thought I have is maybe your adobe flash or java isn't updated.
Hi Dr. Fritz,
Once I add a few more websites to it I am going to present it to a small group of students in my room and see how they do with it. I will also add it to my gadgets, I would have never thought to do that thanks.
Hi Leslie,
Using Jing for my students is something that I never thought of before. I think I'm going to make a couple for this week since our district wide test are coming up and they have to be filled out by the students on the internet and none of my students have ever done that before. Thanks for the idea.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how having ELL students would compound the importants of teaching good online skills. When reading content, it would be much more difficult for ELL students to be able to evaluate it for sarcasm, double entendres, and accuracy! Having some of the other tools from REAL ready for these kids to use would be so helpful to them.
I was told by our ESL teacher that it children learn new languages in stages. First to develop is colloquial language usage for speaking to people socially. Next comes the ability to read a new language fluently. The last skill to come is the ability to learn in that language. She said many children will live in the US for as many as ten years before they have an academic fluency in the English language. Imagine putting a research on top of that struggle!
Would teaching the ESL teacher these strategies help as well? He/she could be there as a support when using the Internet (which is tough b/c it may not be at the same time each day). Differentiated instruction is definitely something that is necessary. Creating a Jing visual will help tremendously so they can "see" what you are doing!
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