Virtual Reality?

After the first half of school is over, I am replacing my Writers Workshop class with another English elective, Media Literacy. I must admit that I am terrified. I have absolutely no idea where to start or what to do; the only thing I am sure of is that there is an OVERWHELMING amount of resources in order to develop a curriculum that is defined by success in this field. Where to start remains my question.

Gee states, "this technology requires action in an environment; it generates vocabulary used in actual situations, which makes meanings dearer and easier to remember." This quote provides me with a strong sense of confidence and purpose for the class that I will teach. I will have the opportunity as teacher to use the resources offered by media technology in order to make each student I teach an independent learner, and more importantly one who thrives in a somewhat intimidating world of literacy. Not only will they be able to understand how to use technology, but from this, they will develop a higher level of thinking, an extensive vocabulary, a strong ability to write and think independently, but most importantly, an understanding of today's world.

I know that I am venturing a bit off topic from Gee's purpose of writing this article, but what I understood from it is that I now have the opportunity to provide every student with learning that will be engaging through the use of technology and media. I know that I will help create learners and producers. They will have the ability to explore education on a variety of levels and I will use Gee's ideas in order to create the foundation of my class. Thanks Gee!

Gee, James Paul. "Welcome to Our Virtual Worlds," https://blackboard.pace.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/TS-654-71662.201070/Gee.pdf

Good Gaming

Gee, I never thought about Gaming as strong of an educational resource as this articles proves to be. Much like Gee states, I too have never "felt myself using learning muscles as a workout" since one of my college classes until I had actually taken my own risk in reading the educational benefits of gaming. Although I do feel that I am a "trendy" teacher, who attempts to use various learning strategies within the classroom, I do tend to shy away from computer gaming, or for that matter any gaming that is practiced with technology, for the simple reason that I am nervous to take the risk. The article opened my eyes to the fact that if I myself am too nervous to take my own educational risk, of learning the gaming world, how should I expect my students to take them in the classroom?

After reading the 16 principles, I became comfortable with the idea that gaming is something that will be a benefit to the process of education. Do not get me wrong, I do know that this technology is "engaging" for students, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will find "ownership" in taking this route, but I had no idea that it does turn them into both producers and receivers of knowledge. I believe that I was originally fearful of the notion that games only occupied students minds, rather than stretched them. I will now try to stretch my own and conquer the world of gaming in order to bring it into my classroom so students feel as if I am taking my own risk. It is a fact that teacher as doer allows students to feel confident that they can achieve in the classroom as well. I will now start as the model to give them the opportunity to become the doers.


Gee, James Paul. "Good Video Games and Good Learning," https://blackboard.pace.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/TS-654-71662.201070/Gee2.pdf

Teens Today and Tomorrow

Social Media has taken a major role within students lives today. On a daily basis, I see students accessing the mobile version of social media (whether it be on a Driod, iPhone, or BlackBerry) constantly. The article was not something that was of surprise in the fact that it noted the abundance of teen users, rather the economic standing of the users that attended to SNS more often. I originally imagined that students with a wealthier family life would visit social networking sites more often, simply because of the availability at their disposal; however, this study proves different. I have been attempting to analyze why this is so, thought about a few reasons, but I cannot pinpoint why students who are from a lower economic standing visit SNS more often. I wish the article provided a more descriptive analysis of the study, because honestly, there is not much proof or explanation to understand the purpose of the study itself. Perhaps I am being an over-analytical English teacher, but the study of Social Media now in comparison to 2006 does really examine much that would provide teachers with an understanding of how this affects today's children. Is there something that I am missing after reading the article?

Smarty Pants, Alex Trebeck

I have always thought that Jeopardy was a fun way for students to review specific topics, yet at times the lengthy amount of time put into preparation and preparing this game was intimidating. When I went to high school, I felt that the creation of this multi-player game truly gave everyone in the classroom a chance to soak up all the information learned within a unit; needless to say, I fell in love with it when I was young, yet I never recognized what went into the creation of the game until I started student teaching. I was overwhelmed, tired, and honestly, over it. Thank you Alex Trebeck for reading the subject areas with simplicity because I was definitely misdirected in believing that the creation of clues would be easy as pie. I searched around for other ways to administer this review, but I did not find anything I liked until this lesson I stumbled across in planning for Macbeth.

The SmartExchange program provided me with the template (therefore I did not have to design the setup of the game), the most difficult part to create. It allowed for me to simply fill in clues, which I had generated from resources within my school building, my essential questions, and specific lines from the text. I came to understand that in the simple development of the interactive Jeopardy game, I found the love that I had once felt about it. I realized that with this application, my students would be able to experience a far more beneficial aspect of review; when practicing the use of Jeopardy, after I created the slides, which may I add were very simple to understand, I became a more knowledgeable teacher, not only on the subject of Shakespeare, but on technological applications. I highly recommend using this SmartLesson in your classroom, and the best feature this application offers is that is available for ALL subject areas and grade levels. Try it out for yourself, and feel the love :)

Thanks SmartExchange!

WordTrain - Learning Program Update

Using SourceForge.net, I was able to find an application that engaged my interest in learning more about how to enhance students' vocabulary knowledge. Recently, I got a new job (yay!), and part of the curriculum for 10th grade English teachers is to incorporate new vocabulary into lessons weekly. I have yet to have years of experience, but I have had enough to understand that the traditional way of teaching vocabulary is not effective. I have figured this out as both a teacher and a student; as a youngster, I HATED the process of learning spelling and vocabulary words because I simply memorized, or as I liked to call it when I was younger, "learned it to forget it." Can you believe that I became an English teacher with this mantra?

Although I do have a negative outlook on vocabulary, and truly feel that the only way to add to the personal dictionary/thesaurus is to read and write, WordTrain made me feel a bit more comfortable that there are other ways to help students understand new words. The thought of teaching students the simplicities in "learning it to forget it" gave me the shivers, but WordTrain allowed me to obtain a new angle in teaching students how to enhance their vocabulary. Not only does the promise of using an application on the Internet entice students to partake in the lesson, but the various features it presents grants students to access more than the simple spelling and definition of the word itself. It provides students with the learning of words in its entirety: presents the word, allows students to check for meaning individually, creates word cards for self-check, and assesses the student all with a few clicks of a mouse. Incorporating vocabulary learning into the virtual sphere provides students more access to a larger variety of words, and helps the become independent learners. I believe that this application provides students with a grander-scaled learning experience than the quizzical format of the traditional spelling and vocabulary assessments. I hope that my students find that they enjoy the WordTrain application more than the ordinary Friday tests, because this is a feature that I plan to use in my classroom to adhere to the curriculum. My thanks to SourceForge!

Personal Learning Environment Framework

Chatti has opened my eyes to a new style of learning: Personal. Prior to reading about this efficient learning resource, I had always recognized the importance of making learning personal. It is evident that the beauty of a classroom is the fact that every student is different; mirroring the philosophy, "diversity makes the world go round," the classroom environment is more successful when individuality is present. I believe it is essential to understand students as both individuals and groups; students will learn better when the teacher is aware of how their kids work independently and collaboratively. The idea of independent work must focus on building on students' strengths and interests. PLEF is a resource that does this.

Students' abilities involving and interests in the Internet are both facets that draw attention to the benefit of a PLEF. PLEF's must be authentic, controlled, and organized. What better feature is accessible to teachers in monitoring students' resources?! This is a key addition to the learning process. Students are able to combine their Internet knowledge and usage to classroom learning. Students have knowledge at their fingertips, in an ORGANIZED fashion, which allows an easier transition into the processes of analysis and reflection of work.
Personally, I find that this would be a positive addition to the classroom environment, and would allow students to expand their thinking beyond the resources of our room. Why not expand an environment to promote learning on all levels, especially if students are all different learners with varied needs.

Pop-Culture TAKING OVER Education?

I was researching how culture has come to influence education, yet what I came across was not what I originally imagined. As a high school teacher, I understand that the latest fads in fashion occupy the hallways, and "today's" lingo is replaced with Shakespeare's language. We all know that we need to "change with the times," in order to engage 21st century learners. Unfortunately, these changing times do not always positively affect WHAT students learn.

In school, it is essential that we teach students to become independent in order to achieve success in the real world. I find that I do this daily within my lesson plans, but what happens when they leave my classroom? I have each student for a mere 40 minutes in every day; yes, I believe my lessons click, but do they always stick? They leave my room and enter theirs: reality. The new "fad" in their reality, unfortunately, is reality TV. I fear that student's are leaving school and entering the mindless reality of this experience; they come in to school and roar over the "funniest thing that happened on Jersey Shore. How cool would it be if we could do that?"

Why I ask, is this cast of Jersey Shore taking over the teachers' role? Students are looking towards these idiots as role models, and we are being pushed to the side. I like to think that I am a teacher who reaches her students, but do these figures have more power over me? At the end of the day, students need to know what I teach them, not GymTanningLaundry. When did a search on the impacts of culture in education lead to a beach, drinking, and bad decisions?

 "Pop culture college | 7 habits of highly effective people, jersey shore edition." 2010, October 15. http://blog.earnmydegree.com/blog/2010/10/15/7-habits-highly-effective-people-jersey-shore-edition/

Welcome, Wiki, to Classroom K108

Engaging students in the 21st century must be done with technology. Students have grown up with the benefit of technology at their fingertips; they use it in all spheres of their lives: social, emotional, physical, and finally, educationally! Sure, we as teachers have the opportunity to bring students to computer labs to provide them with in-class instruction, but why not take advantage of the fact that technology can bring learning home; it extends the school day, connects the classroom to the living room. By providing students this opportunity to learn in the comfort of home, the teacher has already gained students' attention; in order to further engage students, using the common interest (between teacher and student) of the computer, we as teachers will invite our students to take part in learning within the environment in which they are most comfortable: home.

Although class blogs have stolen the reputation of the most effective learning tool in and out of the classroom, David Wetzel draws attention to the truth: "Wikis are more versatile than a class blog, because blogs are typically one way communication and Wikis are update by teachers and students." Wetzel's attempt is not to slander blogs, but to inform teachers, students, and parents that they can ALL take part in the learning process at once. A blog is an individual's thought, whereas a wiki encourages all individuals to become involved in the process. A teacher can continue a lesson in the classroom online, and even better, ALL students can comment! It extends the school day, and by a means which interests children. In Wetzel's own words: students can "save class work in personal Wiki folders...complete at home...and submit to teacher;" "can collaborate one work during and after school...group Wiki folders;" "student groups can edit each other's work as they complete a class project;" and most importantly what EVERY teacher wants in a group project "students are held accountable...because Wiki records who participated."

What isn't there to love about the invention of Wikis? It grabs the students' interests and holds the accountable for the work they put in. Welcome, Wiki, to Russo's classroom, K108! Everybody join in! I promise it will help :)

Wetzel, David. Using Wiki Technology to Engage Students. http://www.suite101.com/content/using-wiki-technology-to-engage-students-a69448. 2008, September 10.

Educational Security

Technology has become a strong source of connection in the communication and the classroom fields. It has opened the doors of people's lives; education has expanded from the classroom sphere to the home and beyond. The resource has allowed all Internet participants the access to these open doors, leaving many of the young population exposed and vulnerable. As educators, our desire is to use the Internet to further extend learning, yet with this comes the threat of unprotected students. It is not our wish to allow intruders to discover the "personal information, known as their thoughts and portions of the intellectual explorations that make up their life," rather to simply have the information at our fingertips to benefit learning.

Intrusion must stop, but how? Much like all other solutions, education. We as teachers, students, and communicators must spread the word to others that todays' learners are being given a disservice to their education. As we try to expand learning outside the classroom walls, others are damaging the move. Through educating the public, on the pitfalls of internet violators, we hope that awareness will bring a change and grant education the ability to transform and the security it needs.

Works Cited: Bill, "Have Fun Explaining This to Parents as Your School Transitions to Google Apps." September, 14 2010. FunnyMonkey.com.

Emergent Learning

Throughout the reading, "Educational Blogging," Downes made it clear that learning is no longer determined by textbooks and long lectures. Students of the 21st century are deemed literate through various means, technology of the utmost importance. "Educational Blogging," examines "the emergence of a learning community that goes beyond the school wall;" more specifically, it enters the personal sphere of communication via Internet. Blogging has become a resource of encouragement in the educational world - it is now another universe that students can enter to learn. As a high school English teacher, I find that blogging has provided teachers with another tool to reach students who are continually changing to find themselves in a world which continually changes. In conjunction with the CCSS, students must "learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively." Clearly, these are all utilized in the classroom, yet extending it to the Internet provides another push towards achieving effectiveness for students in another setting. In order to become successful, students must be able to take what they learn in the classroom and use it in the outside world. Why not practice that as much as possible before high school is over? Allow students another outlet to learn, encourage it. According to the CCSS, "to be a literate person in the 21st century...indeed the skills and understandings students are expected to demonstrate a wide applicability outside the classroom/workplace...texts that build knowledge, enlarge experience, and broaden worldviews." The beauty of blogging is that students can access texts, events, and ideas that come from more than the 20 other students in the classroom. In order to truly envelope worldwide learning, students must be able to access it; blogging allows it, the teacher must encourage it.

Much like another blogger said, students are able to become personally connected to events. They become apart of the event, rather than just an onlooker or listener. In cooperation with the core standards, students can reflect and respond using their own voices to the world, thus recognizing the importance of learning to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively. Most importantly, students become independent thinkers, while allowing others to see the intelligence that blooms not only in the classroom, but across the world. Students become an inspiration to other students, which in turn promotes not only the use of blogging, but the importance of learning to the world of 21st century learners.