I visited Dr. Tyson’s blog and I have to say, I am really impressed – especially when I also explored the MabryOnline.org site from when he was the principal at Mabry Middle School. I’m very interested in finding out whether the previous teachers, who were under Dr. Tyson’s years of being principal, are still implementing technology in their classrooms. It is so important! Seeing the videos the students with their teachers have created, it is amazing! I can see the students love what they are doing in school – they enjoy it. That is so important! I would love to work with people who are as excited to work with technology like I am. In the keynote address he made at ISTE’s Atlanta NECC 2007 conference, I loved how the person introducing him mentioned how the children reacts when they pass him in the halls of the school They KNOW him. I don’t even remember my middle school’s principal… That just shows they didn’t make an impact on me. Dr. Tyson made a huge impact on those children he helped realize that technology can open a whole new world of possibilities.
After exploring his blog, I know I will be visiting it often. Unfortunately, his blogs are so Mac-focused. I don’t have a Mac nor do I have an Iphone. However, he has many other resources that will be useful for me. I already found one… It’s called Shelfari.com. It is like Goodreads.com which was required for me to make an account. I also just created an account on Shelfari.
Dr. Tyson is very inspiring. The kids learned while enjoying their time at school. He has made a huge impact in the world of education with his use of technology. “They have an international voice that matters.” That is powerful. Language is powerful. Like Dr. Tyson said, it’s authentic. It is authentic assessment. Their creativity and level of thinking are challenged and put to work. It’s sad that he is no longer the principal of Mabry and that Mabryonline.org was not continued by the next principal…We need more meaningful activities and people who actually CARE in the classrooms of this country.
I am hoping there are other principals who will step up and actually create an environment like that of what Dr. Tyson created when he was at Mabry Middle School.
Very powerful stuff! I never would have known about this if it wasn’t for this class.
I have to say, I am LOVING this class so much! I’m so excited to do the Film project! Considering there’s over a month to plan the project, and then another month to actually put it together, it’s going to be great.
Anyway, that was just a side note. Here’s my actual thoughts about the websites listed in today’s class agenda:
Oh, and I think these resources are AMAZING! I’ve never heard of any of these websites but now I’m so excited to have been introduced to them. Thanks Dr. Crovitz! If you have any other cool resources that we may/may not know about, I’d love to know about them 
Alright, so here we go.
Ideas for using:
*Glogster* This website is definitely a perfect way for students to show their creativity. Possible uses would be to make a “poster” of a book we are reading (whether classic literature or a young adult novel) and then present to the class about their creative process. It can be an individual assignment or they can be in pairs or groups of 3 or more. Another assignment would be for them to create their own short story/narrative, and then use audio to narrate it. I am really impressed with the features of this website! There are so many assignments we can do – and I am definitely going to use this website in my classroom. It will make it more entertaining for the students.
*Gabcast* This website makes it difficult to come up with an assignment because I think the website is now “for profit” and you have to purchase minutes to create an “episode.” However, this website does make it easier for students to record whatever they want and have other students (including the teacher) listen to their “channel.” Another website that promotes creativity and expression!
*Wordle* This is a simple website and students can take a poem, a story, or anything with a huge amount of words, and create a “wordle.” It collects all the words in one image and they can see which words are used often. This will make it easier for students to analyze word choice for different pieces of writing.
*Museum Box* Students can showcase their work at this website. This also makes it possible to create an interactive “museum box” that argues two sides of a debate. Critical thinking skills as well as creativity is promoted using this website in the classroom. Very exciting.
*TimeRime* How many times were we asked to create a time line for our classes throughout high school? Many times! This resource is perfect for history class. I think it can also be possible to use for Literature class where students can research an author, their life, and showcase it in a time line created on this website. They can also creatively create a time line of their own life – it can be a great “get to know you” assignment at the beginning of the semester.
Again, I’m really glad I learned about these resources today.
I love this semester
Rebecca and I are using these two videos for our lesson:
For more information, please refer to the “Video Clip Assignment” link on my navigation bar.
So this whole exercise was definitely eye-opening. The Skittles website has the slogan “Interweb the rainbow. Taste the rainbow.” When you visit it, it’s connected to Facebook. It was quite funny, really. There was an image of a payphone on the “Home” page with the text “Holla at the Rainbow. Check the directory for a list of important digits. The rainbow is expecting your call. Click to start. Taste the rainbow” and the image can be clicked and brings you to more interactive stuff. You can change your status on Facebook to “Just _______ by the Rainbow.” Also, the navigation floats on the page and when you click on “Chatter” it brings you to the Twitter website… Twitter and Facebook… Hmm…
Oh, and another thing. When you first enter the website, it informs you that it needs to confirm your age. Is that for data gathering purposes? Then again, who is to say people actually tell the truth when they fill that short form out… Well, I did tell the truth when I did it…
The MM’s website features candy other than MM’s, like Twix, Snickers, Milky Way and 3 Musketeers. Makes you want it because it even asks, “Need a Chocolate Break?”
What I learned today (among other things): Dove and Axe are owned under the same company, Unilever! That is so crazy! Why? Let’s take a look:
Need I say more?
Wow. Thanks Dr. Crovitz for enlightening me on yet another topic.
I enjoyed reading the article and it was all very well said. Many students, even in the high school level, still lack critical thinking skills. Having activities that use their sort of entertainment (internet websites!!!) will probably keep their attention longer than any research paper will ever be able to do. Research papers can be boring, especially if a topic isn’t even something students get to choose on their own. That’s why I love this class and my Writing class with Dr. Levy… and well, all my other classes this semester. The amount of decisions I get to make in regards to what I get to do on assignments, projects, etc. are endless! Freedom of creativity that I was barely allowed to have in high school. Hopefully, with us (future teachers) out there in a year or two or three – for some – we will change that! Let’s keep our students interested and wanting to come to our class. Don’t make them dread it!
The passage that I found “right on” was when Dr. Crovitz says, “Class discussions only scratch the surface…….” (53) and follows with a long list of other questions we can consider if we ever do an assignment like this. “Do snack food companies have responsibility to inform their customers, many of them children, about the nutritional value of their products?” Yes! “If so, what counts as sufficient information, and how accessible should it be?” There is nothing that can be “too much information” when it comes to nutritional value of food we are subjecting children to eat. They should be educated on health issues – and how accessible? VERY accessible, of course! “If an ingredient list is buried behind many pages of graphics, video, and games, is its presence somehow compromised?” I definitely think it is. These websites should include the important information on the HOME page of their website, without having the need to play hide-and-seek with the visitor.
I know that one of the things one must consider when making a website is accessibility. Websites should be easy to navigate and the visitor should easily find what they are looking for! Not that this necessarily means everyone goes on a website looking for something specific, but all websites should be organized in a way that is not confusing to the visit of the site. If it was difficult to navigate, I’m sure that visitor won’t plan on coming back to the site anytime soon…
I also thought the passage, “These projects can be challenging and time intensive, and yet students are almost universally positive when reflecting on the assignment’s worth,” to be completely accurate. I most certainly find these types of projects to be eye-opening and educational, as well as fun. I liked how Dr. Crovitz says, “Many teenagers are already far beyond their teachers in practical digital skills, be it Web design, programming, or online networking” (55). That was so funny to read because it brought me back to my memories in “Web Design” class in high school. We were learning how to use Microsoft Frontpage to make websites. It took the teacher quite some time to”teach” us certain things, because he was looking for it first… On the other hand, I considered myself an “expert” in designing websites on Frontpage, so I found that part of the class to be a breeze. However, I also liked how Dr. Crovitz says, “English teaachers have a grounding in the discipline that makes them well-suited as mentors” (55). It’s very true! Although some students may know more than the teacher on certain things, students still have a lot to learn from their teachers. Although my particular web design teacher was not as familiar with Microsoft Frontpage like I was, he taught me the basics for using Microsoft Excel and Access, which I had NO CLUE how to use at first. Students learn from teachers; teachers learn from students.
It’s Tueeessdaaayyy… I have to work right after school. But… John’s picking up our kitten this afternoon!!! I’ m so excited! 
It’s Thursday… Last school day of the week. Looking forward to tomorrow, like last Friday. Anyway, one more class before I head to work. Oh September. You’re the reason I’m not making any money during my shifts. As my manager warned all us servers at the employee meeting this past Sunday morning: “September is the slowest month of the year. You haven’t seen slow yet.” Wow, and we thought we have… I worked this past Tuesday night and I had 2 tables before I was cut. Perfect. I made $17.80 cents that night.
I can’t really complain though. I’m lucky to have a job. There are good days. Last week, Thursday, I worked the same shift I will be working tonight (a 5:30 pm shift) and I made $100 – 3 hours of work. So as you see, I know I shouldn’t really complain.
I’m SO GLAD that it’s Labor Day weekend. Although I work all day Saturday and Sunday, I do have tomorrow and Monday to catch up on school work. I’m still behind on my readings for my classes!
On to a cooler subject: my new phone!!! I now have the Palm Pre. I am LOVING IT!
It is AMAZING! I heard that in the middle of this month, there will be a ton more applications available for download in the App store.
Alright, on to another topic. Last Friday, John and I went to see MacHomer at Georgia Shakespeare. It was great. It was nice to do something other than curling up and watching a movie at his house every single night (although I do get my $25/month Blockbuster pass)… I didn’t expect all The Simpsons characters’ voices to come from one man. He acted out the entire play by himself. Very interesting and nothing I have ever seen done before. He was very talented.
I guess I should end this now and walk to my next class – good ol’ Teaching Lit. to Adolescents.
A picture is supposed to be worth “a thousand words” so do I even have to explain what pointillism is? Anyway, I guess I will… It’s just a form of art (painting technique) where dots or stipples of “pure figment” are done on a canvas – and from a distance, it will create a picture since it it blends into other colors (See the picture above!)
We got into groups of 3 in class and looked at “Encyclopedia Americana,” “Wikipedia” and “Britannica Online” and we observed the differences and similarities between the three about pointillism. Very interesting!
Wikipedia is less specific but they do have links that guide you to the other pages about that certain topic mentioned. Britannica Online also has links but out of the three websites, it was the only one without a picture as an example. Encyclopedia Americana is specific but I guess the topic we chose as a group was not as complex that requires pages and pages of explanation. The references at the bottom of Wikipedia are websites… In Britannica, it provides “External Web sites”…
I just learned exactly how to edit Wikipedia.. Haha. I never really thought about finding out how to do it… It’s very cool, especially the “history” feature… That is great!
This class is so much fun. It’s laid-back and yet I learn something new everyday… It beats being in a class where I’m stressed and I’m not even interested in what we’re talking about… Thank goodness those classes are over though. I love all my classes this semester <— sorry if I keep mentioning that in pretty much every entry
Read my previous post before opening the file below…
The Personal Logo I chose to have is a heart with a footprint… It was drawn on the blank space of the document above.
How exciting. Tomorrow is Friday. The 2nd week of school is almost over. I am having a great semester though. No matter how many things are happening all at once. My readings for all my classes are starting to seriously mix together and that is why I am definitely going to finish putting everything about this semester in my planner tomorrow. That’s the plan, anyway…
Have you ever been in a good mood early in the morning and then all of a sudden, something happens, and then BAM! You’re kind of upset? That’s what happened to me yesterday morning. Well, actually, I guess I was more “dazed” than I was happy… I was just dazed and not really paying much attention to anything going on around me… but for the most part, I wasn’t upset. Anyway, here’s the quick story. I was in line to get my usual fruit and yogurt parfait + orange juice at McDonalds on 41. There was a truck next to my car who was trying to leave but my car was blocking it because I was in line. I couldn’t do anything about it until the car in front of me moved and so I could move out of the way… Well, once I finally moved out of the way, the truck backed out, stopped next to my car, and the guy in it said something like “YOU ARE f#@#r% UP!” then proceeded to drive off while giving me the finger. WOW. I was in absolute shock. I actually should have paid more attention, I admit, because maybe to help him out, I could have backed out my car. I only realized the car behind me had left some space so I could back out and let the guy through when it was already too late and the car in front of me finally moved. Anyway, the only reason I was upset was because the whole event made it seem like I was intentionally rude. I am not a rude person and I would NEVER do that – just block someone who was trying to get out of the parking lot. However, by the way the guy “treated me” it surely made it seem that way.
That’s all really.
One more little note. I really am enjoying this semester. I am learning a lot. I especially enjoyed my ENGL 3310 class today. We did our first feather circle and shared our “Personal Logo” piece. I cried while I read mine, which was definitely not my intention. I kept telling myself over and over before it was my turn to read, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry” but I couldn’t help it. Another girl cried while she read hers too… She actually wasn’t able to finish reading her piece and someone had to read it for her. I have everyone’s Personal Logo piece (all of us had to print out 28 copies) and I am going to combine all the writing assignment instructions, my drafts/final pieces, and everyone’s pieces in one binder. It is going to be such a great teaching tool. Anyway, with my Personal Logo piece, I wrote about my stepdad. I’ll see if I can post the document in my next post.
