In my last post I provided an update of steps I took during the first week of my GAME plan. I also listed resources and information I will need to continue my plan. In this post I will share my progress now that I am two weeks into the implementation of my plan.
Goal #1:
Indicator 3d-teachers “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
To reach this goal I have been rereading November’s (2008) book and marking down ideas for instruction. Based on my reading, I have a lesson planned on the domain extensions of URLs for next week. I will use that to lead into a practice evaluation of one of the spoof websites recommended by November. On that list of spoof websites I will definitely include the Pacific Tree Octopus site that was recommended last week by cchiapet. The only problem I am running into is the availability of computers at my school. Right now they are being used for our district assessments and are scheduled to be in other classrooms through February. That means that I will not actually be able to have computers in my room until March. Since I do not want to delay these lessons until then, I plan to conduct most of these lessons on my IWB and turn them into a whole class discussion. This is not ideal, because I fear that some students will tune out the lesson.
As I have not done a lesson on website evaluation before, I would welcome any advice on common barriers for middle school students when tackling this type of project. Thanks ahead of time for your help.
Goal #2:
Indicator 5a-I will “participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
For this goal I have been working to connect with or create a community of Hitachi Starboard users. Since last week I have identified 5 people within my district who have a Starboard. I hope to contact them next week to see if we can share tips and lessons. I also went to the Starboard website and looked through the resources they have available. The webinar section looks very helpful and I would like to watch at least one of the archived webinars by the next time I report my progress on this blog. Unfortunately, there are not any pre-made lessons in the Starboard lesson sharing section that I can use. It seems that many of them are designed for Windows operating system which I do not have.
In my original GAME plan for this goal, I wanted to create a wiki to share lessons with other district Starboard users. After viewing the Starboard lesson resource center, though, I plan to concentrate less on a district level community and more on the wider community. I would like to work on a lesson that I can upload to the Starboard resource center. This will benefit many people and hopefully encourage others to add lessons that I can use. I do wonder what the requirements for adding a lesson are though. I will have to investigate that before I start creating a lesson. This modification to my GAME plan will still enable me to reach the NETS indicator, but will focus more on the global community aspect than previously.
International Society of Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.
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9 years ago
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely empathize with you over the difficulty of booking computers for student use. Although it would be better for students to have their own computers to practice website evaluation, the interactive whiteboard at least provides an alternative. You are probably planning on it, but I would definitely recommend giving students a website evaluation checklist to complete. This might help keep them engaged. Since the sites will purposely be misleading, it may be better to make your own checklist that's geared specifically to these types of sites. However, I found some helpful resources for website evaluation at the following site: http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic32.htm
Hope this helps,
Tara
Reference
Johnson, L. & Lamb, A. (2000-2011). Evaluating Internet Resources. Teacher Tap. Retrieved January 29, 2011, from http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic32.htm
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have done website evaluations with my students twice now and each time has been different. One recommendation I have is when you let the students evaluate a site on their own for the first time, have a check list for them to check off things they find. For example you could have a questions about if the author is reliable. Then have a check "yes" box and check "no" box. Ask them to explain why they checked the box they did. It helps you to see if they are looking for the right things. The only other advice I have is to keep them involved and active as you go through the lesson. The more active they were the less they seemed to loose focus. I hope this helps and good luck with your lesson!
Christy
Tara,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great resource! It has a lot of information I hope to incorporate into the checklist I'm going to make for our whole group lesson on the topic of evaluating resources. I especially liked that the site you recommended had a section on email hoaxes and current Internet scams. I hadn't thought about those but I'm sure I can engage students in a discussion around the 2012 scare and how the internet helped to disseminate false information about the Mayans as a way to lead into the topic.
Thanks,
Sarah
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt is good to teach students to critically analyze the information found on the Internet. When I read your posting I immediatly connected with it because I too was rereading Eagleton & Doblers, "Reading the Web". The handout on page 191 of the book - titled E-9 Is it true? could be handed out and you can all fill this out as a class. You are modeling proper internet skills and students can actively participate in the lesson. Good luck with the lesson - I plan on showing the students Aluminum Foil Detector Beanie at zapatopi.net/afdb.html
Noreen
Christy,
ReplyDeleteI will make sure to include a space for student explanation for each of their responses on the checklist. I know my students will otherwise just check without really thinking:( To help keep them active during the whole group lesson I plan to have them fill out the checklist as a table group. Then I will have each group explain why they would or would not recommend the resource. We'll have a vote for the most persuasive explanation and I'll award a prize. Hopefully, that will help keep them all engaged.
Thanks for the help,
Sarah
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found the website helpful. I also like your idea of examining propaganda on the web regarding 2012. This is a topic that students can easily connect to...it's all my students would talk about for awhile!
Take care,
Tara
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI feel for your situation with the lack of technology but a lesson on a IWB should or can be engaging enough to keep most students interested in what you are discussing. As for help teaching middle schoolers the art of evaluating online sources; I think using sites such as the Northwest Tree Octopus is a great way to start the conversation. I also think created a complete lie about something and posting on Wikipedia in front of your students can be a powerful lesson.
Middle schoolers are concrete thinkers and will believe almost anything if said in a sincere manner. When I was subbing, teachers would test their students concrete thinking by telling tales about my past. I have been an ex-Boston Redsox, a profession silent ball player and a former member of Nsync and students on the whole bought those stories hook, line and sinker. So, showing your students that everything they read on the internet isn't the truth is a great lesson to teach.